


Picking Up The Pieces

by ArcaneDesires



Category: Hunger Games - Fandom, Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-04
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-09 04:08:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/451085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcaneDesires/pseuds/ArcaneDesires
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After catching her kissing her girlfriend, Clove's parents force her to move to a new town. Trouble is no one seems to like her. Well except for one person that is. Someone who seems to like most people as little as she does and yet he seems to like her. Then when Clove's life truly falls apart, of course there's only one person left to pick up the pieces, Cato. Eventual Clato</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LovelyAche](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyAche/gifts).



> Title: Picking Up The Pieces  
> Author: ArcaneDesires  
> Pairings: Cato/Clove, (Brief mentions of Female OC/Clove, and very brief hints of Cato/Glimmer, Possible Marvel/Glimmer mentions/hints too.)  
> Warnings: Swearing, Mild Violence, Mentions of Girls Kissing Girls at the beginning, Mature Het Situations, AU storyline. (Warnings may be added to later on.)
> 
> A/N: My first THG based fiction, even if it is AU. And my first Clato. I ADORE Clato, and am pretty fond of Glarvel too. I'm still very iffy on this one and please be warned the actual Clato won't happen until the later chapters, but I'm hopeful that someone will like this. Written for my wonderful friend LovelyAche.
> 
> If you feel like dropping me a review I'd love that and would adore you. Anywho without further ado, please enjoy. I hope you will!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Hunger Games, the world this fic is set in or the characters contained within. I make no money off this fic and sadly I am obviously not Suzanne Collins.

Dark brown, almost black eyes glanced down as nimble fingers skimmed over the screen. Image after image swept past her scrutinising eyes, but only one specific one held any interest for the teen. Flicking through the images faster and growing increasingly annoyed, Clove ignored the irritated huff from the front of the car and breathed a sigh of relief when the image she'd been looking for finally came upon the screen.

Lit up by the mobiles screen, were the smiling faces of two young female teenagers. One teen was fair in just about every way. Light skin, pale strawberry blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail and bright green eyes stood out from her pretty face. She had high cheekbones, a toned slender body and a broad, bright smile that lit up her eyes and a sense of friendliness that you could practically feel flowing out from the image.

The other was dark haired, dark eyed and pale skinned, with a soft smattering of freckles upon her face. Her smile was more smirk like than anything and you could just about see the darkness that was hidden behind the somewhat happy façade. But there was a genuine sense of happiness that still somehow radiated towards the girl beside her. Towards the strawberry blonde with her arm around the shorter dark haired girl, the one who was grinning at the camera like she'd never been happier.

And it was to the other girl that Clove now turned her attention. She remembered this image so clearly it was like it was yesterday and the entirety of the day it was taken was burned so deeply into her mind, seared so clearly before her eyes like a movie. That was the day, only a matter of moments before the picture was taken actually, that Dela had kissed her for the first time.

She'd never been one for being happy with people, or even being able to put up with them, but Dela got her. She wasn't like Clove, she was popular and friendly and… nice. But she understood Clove, she saw past the darkness within her, the distaste for being around most people in general and she still liked her anyway, had always liked her.

And not all that long ago… God had it really been only three months? Clove was pretty sure it was, she was very careful with things like this. But that aside, three months ago their friendship had grown into something bigger, stronger and oh so much better.

She'd always sort of thought the girl attractive, but it hadn't hit her just how attracted she was to her until the older girl had shifted from her position stretched out on the bed and looked at her from beneath surprisingly thick eyelashes and asked that question.

Clove's lips quirked up at the edges and she closed her eyes for a brief second to capture the moment in greater detail. Dela had looked at her with those bright, emerald green eyes of hers and said 'Clove, have you ever thought about kissing a girl?' And the dark haired teen had shaken her head, because she could honestly say that No, she hadn't ever thought about it. But then again she hadn't really thought about kissing anyone, because in general people were stupid and pissed her off severely.

But then the idea was there and she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like, so when Dela asked if she could kiss her, she hadn't even had to think about it, she'd just nodded and licked her lips in preparation. What the older girl had done was not so much kiss her as completely steal her breath from her lungs as she plunged her tongue into her mouth.

She'd swept it over every inch of Clove's mouth and claimed it completely. And for possibly the first time in… well EVER, the younger teen simply hadn't cared enough to reclaim the control she should have had. Because she hated to not be in control, but this was just… it really didn't matter when Dela kissed her like that.

Blinking her eyes open, the girl scowled at the backs of her parents heads. That was all over now, they'd ensured that just because they'd caught her and Dela making out and indulging in some heavy petting, they were packed up and moving to this sunshine ridden hell hole just over a month later. Or at least that was how Clove preferred to see it, because all this sunshine did NOT do her already bad mood any good.

She huffed again and flicked the image off her screen, turning her glare to the tree lined street they were making their way down.

"Clove… I do wish you wouldn't keep huffing," her mother complained from the front passenger seat.

"Yeah well I wish you wouldn't have fucking moved us here, shit happens. That's life… mom," she mumbled back under her breath.

"I beg your pardon? What was that?"

"I just asked if we were there yet?" she shot back, injecting false sweetness into her voice and pulling up a smile that could probably fool even her mom, since she'd long ago perfected the art of mixing sarcasm and saccharine.

"Yes actually," her father finally interrupted as they pulled into the driveway of a large grey and white detached house.

"Finally," Clove grumbled exiting the car the second it stopped and standing in the drive, just sneering at their new surroundings. Bright flowers in a range of colours banked the walkway and driveway. The sight and smell of them made her just want to trample them all beneath her feet.

Sometimes she hated having money, because it meant living in a place like this, where all the houses were different and spread apart to make room for the large, sprawling lawns. Everything was so neat and tidy and perfect and everywhere there were flowers… Too many damned flowers.

Ergh, she could already tell she was going to hate this fucking place, and not only because they'd forced her away from Dela either… Though, that was a large part of it obviously, but not all of it. She just plain hated it already. It was just too fucking… NICE.

As for her parent's homophobic attitude, that was just fucking pathetic. It wasn't like she was ONLY interested in girls, she found guys just as attractive, but Dela had just been, well there. She'd sparked the interest first and she was just attractive, really fucking attractive. God the girl was hot… But no, that didn't matter, because oh my god their precious daughter was kissing a girl and that couldn't be allowed, because they just had to be fucking normal.

Snatching her wallet and phone from the back seat, Clove rolled her eyes and moved away from the car, intent on simply getting away from them, from here for a while. Of course, that wasn't allowed either and she should have known that, but fuck! She hadn't wanted to move here, so if they wanted her to help, then they were shit outta luck. Because she didn't want to be here at all.

"Clove, where do think you're going?"

"Away from here mom," she replied with the same false sweetness from before, but she made sure to add a twisted grin so that her mother knew she was doing it deliberately this time.

"You'll stay here and unpack young lady," was her father's contribution.

Yeah right, cause that was totally happening. Snorting, she turned away and gave a shake of her head. "Sorry, since you insisted on dragging me here, I'd like to take a look around. Bye!"

And with that she turned and stalked off. They wouldn't follow her, they never did and she knew that, she was relying on it. Oh sure she'd probably get told off later and yeah they'd purposefully leave all her boxes for her to carry upstairs and unpack, but she really didn't see why she had to stay and help when she didn't even want to be here in the first place.

If they were going to force her to be here, then she wanted to know where exactly HERE was, and just how bad this place was. So it was with this in mind that she started down the tree lined streets, feeling her nausea grow with every step. Because this place looked so damn boring and prissy and she was probably gonna get lost, if she wasn't already. Where the hell was the centre of the town anyway?

Her parents had said it wasn't far from the centre of town but, she'd been walking for… Flipping open her phone, she checked the time and scowled upon realising she'd been walking for over an hour and all she saw was street after street of bloody houses! She was tempted to go back, but well she didn't know how to, so fuck it, she'd just keep going and hope she finally found the town centre soon.

And then finally a little while later, she turned a corner and the houses gave way to shops. Not exactly a town centre as she'd call it, but it was obviously what her parents had meant because there DID seem to be a big town square and a lot of shops and things. But it was not quite what she'd been expecting at all. Yep, it was now more than official, this move fucking sucked!

Huffing, she made her way to the big supermarket and stalked down the aisles just for something to do. And well maybe also to get a drink, she could use a soda right now, it was quite warm out after all.

Ignoring the odd looks she seemed to be getting from the people she was moving past, she finally located the pop aisle and moved towards the cola section. God this town was not exactly small, but somehow everyone here seemed to already know her as an outsider. Great, just what she needed having been forced to live in this place, to be seen as the outsider from the second she stepped into the damn place.

She made a mental note to 'thank' her parents for bringing her here later and snagged a bottle of cola off the shelf. Turning, she rolled her eyes at the security guard standing at the nearby aisle entrance, with his thick arms folded over his rotund belly and walked past him, holding up the pop as she headed for the checkouts. Feeling like sharing her annoyance and making someone else feel it too, she smirked at him and wiggled her fingers in a lazy sham of a wave.

When he glared back at her, she cackled and moved to stand in line at the nearest and shortest queue. Idly, she fiddled with her wallet and let the smirk drop as the guy in front of her took his time counting out every last bit of change to pay for his items apparently.

On impulse and purely because he was being a dick, she grabbed a packet of gum from the stand next to the check out and tapped her foot angrily on the ground. She'd move to another check out, except they all had longer queues and there were now many people behind her. She regretted her decision to come in here instead of trying to find some small corner shop, at least until the jerk in front of her turned around at the sound of her foot slapping agitatedly against the tiled floor of the shop.

He frowned at her, and she scowled darkly back, shooting him a glare cold enough to freeze even the fires of hell. The meek looking guy ducked his mousy brown head and turned quickly back to paying as quickly as humanely possible and then shuffled off hurriedly, leaving Clove feeling the urge to cackle again. But she resisted… Barely. Instead she placed her items on the conveyer belt and watched as the cashier rang up her pathetic purchases.

"$1.35 please… Say you're new around here huh?" the woman asked, cracking her own gum and making Clove roll her eyes.

"No shit Sherlock," she snapped back under her breath before raising her voice and shrugging. "Yeah, so. What of it?" She handed over the money, just daring the woman to make something of it. She seemed to think better of it and instead just handed her back her change with a strangely squeaked response of 'Have a nice day!' that followed her as she stalked away.

"Yeah, I'll have a fucking fantastic day," she muttered to herself, wandering just when things would pick up, or if they even would. Considering she'd been dumped in this snobby, shitty town, she didn't think they would. Not for a long time at least.

Twisting the lid off her pop, she swallowed a mouthful and swept dark eyes over the town square she once more found herself in. A pleased shiver travelled through her system as the sugar rushed through her system and the cold fluid hydrated her body.

She turned towards a nearby building that appeared to be some sort of very large community centre and figured she might as well start there. It would hopefully have some sort of information about anything noteworthy that would be going on here and probably a bunch of useless info too.

Still, it was better than nothing she supposed. Upon reaching the large black and grey building, she frowned up at the odd symbol above the huge arched windows that made up the majority of the front of the building.

A circle of gold that surrounded a gold bird of some sort with an arrow carried in its mouth. Ok, weird but whatever. She glanced at the glass doorway in the middle of the large glass front and noticed the nearest inside wall had a large bulletin board absolutely covered in pieces of paper, letters and notifications.

She tried the door, tugging at it and found it open, so her assumption of a community centre or town hall or something seemed pretty fair all things considered. She could hear faint sounds from down the corridor but wanting to know exactly what this place was before she allowed herself to look around further, she made her way to the bulletin board instead.

Once there she realised her first conclusion was wrong, which pissed her off, Clove HATED to be wrong, but she wasn't completely wrong. This did appear to be possibly the heart of the town. At least for teens and young adults anyway, just not a community centre as such. Every single notification was for something to do with sports, or well most of them were to do with some sort of martial arts type thing mixed with… holy shit!

She read it again. It was for competitions and training sessions that appeared to be a mixture of martial arts and an almost military like training program where they were trained in various types of weaponry skills. Well that sounded interesting!

She considered the noises she could still hear occurring somewhere behind her. Hey the door had been open, obviously this wasn't a private party as the saying went, and she was absolutely intrigued about what she would find at the end of the corridor.

Clove stalked past doors, hearing sounds from inside a few of the other rooms, sounds which made her curious, but she didn't bother to pause and find out what lay behind those other doors. She had one goal in mind and somehow, she just knew that this was the source of what excited her curiosity the most.

And then she reached the end of the corridor and another set of large glass doors stood in front of her. But these ones were tinted sort of blackish. It wasn't impossible to see into the room by any means, but it was a lot less easy than the original glass doors into the entrance of this odd place. Inside a large group of people moved and she narrowed her eyes, taking everything in.

A huge brute of a guy stood far away from the main group, a sharp sword in his hand and she watched with a mixture of awe and anger over his absolute skill with the blade as he swung it in quick, practiced movements. Well at least she knew she hadn't hallucinated the whole weapons part of things.

Her gaze switched to the other occupants of the room and she watched as a pair of teens moved to the middle of the quite frankly HUGE room. The girl, some tall, curvy blonde shifted into what Clove recognised as a defensive stance while a dark haired guy, about the same height as the big blonde with the sword stepped towards her. His movements were slow, calculating and careful, while the girls were swifter, harder and almost furious as she pursed her lips up at the brunet guy.

All around the room the occupants were practicing varying forms of hand to hand combat or weapons training. Well this explained where all the teens around here were on a Sunday afternoon. Perhaps living here wouldn't be so bad after all.

Turning her attention away from them, her gaze met with that of another dark haired girl, who looked around her age, maybe a little older. The girl seemed to be eyeing her with some sort of distaste and Clove sneered back, instinctively not liking the other girl who pouted at her.

Rolling her eyes, the teen turned her attention towards a dirty blonde who was walking up to what she presumed was one of the trainers and leaning up to whisper into the guys ear. Brown locked with blue as he stared over the guys shoulder at her and pointed towards her.

As one, the two males turned to her and the darker haired guy she'd assumed was the trainer, nodded at the blonde before breaking away and moving towards her. She took a step back as he pulled the door open and bore down on her with a questioning smile. But she refused to pull away, because she hadn't done a damned thing wrong. The main doors had been open, if they didn't want people walking in then they shouldn't have left the doors unlocked.

To her surprise however the guy wasn't at all unhappy about her not so covert studies, he was actually smiling at her. Ok… what the hell? But whatever, she'd go along with it.

"I take it you're interested in joining?" he asked greyish eyes moving over her frame.

He was assessing her, she knew it and he was no doubt finding her lacking thanks to the small size and slender frame. But she'd had some similar sort of training back in her old town and she was incredibly interested now. Still, she faked a nonchalant shrug and tilted her head to the side. "Hmm, possibly yeah."

"Do you have any experience?"

"Back where I used to live yeah. Hand to hand and weapons training."

"Any good?"

Clove laughed at that and smirked. "I could show you if you like," she shot back.

The guy, she still didn't know his name laughed in response and shook his head. "I can't let you participate today, you need your parent's permission, but I can let you observe if you'd like. You can show me those skills of yours next time."

She'd anticipated that, the same had been true back when she'd started classes in her old town. So she wasn't bothered by that, but it would be good to watch the others, take in their strengths and weaknesses to use to her advantage later on. And of course for now, they wouldn't get to view hers until it was too late for them to assess her as anything other than some tiny slip of a girl that everyone seemed to mistake her for.

"Sure. Sounds good," she shrugged.

"Alright, just stand near the doors and watch then. I'll be deep in it if you don't stay safe." And with that, he moved forward, holding the door open for her to step through.

She did, following him inside and immediately the atmosphere changed. She couldn't even count the pairs of eyes that locked onto her as she leaned back against the wall just to the side of the doors. The blonde girl from before was pursing her lips and whispering something to the lanky brunet guy she'd been fighting before. Judging by the bimbo's face she didn't like her. What a fucking shame.

There were others watching her, but she passed them over briefly just rolling her eyes at the way everyone seemed to dismiss her completely. Well fuck them! Of course the one person who seemed to not dismiss her, but outright seem to want to burn a whole right through her and the wall behind her, was the blond from before with the downright amazing sword skills.

Sharp blue eyes narrowed at her from across the room and she swore she could practically feel ice forming in the air between them. She sneered back at him when his lips curled up, twisting his handsome features, and dark chocolate brown eyes narrowed at him in response.

So he was clearly the big shot in the room, or he sure as hell seemed to think so. Well, she'd give him a run for his damn money and if not, she'd sure as hell try! She just hoped she could convince her parents. They'd been against it last time, something about how normal girls shouldn't want to play with knives. Oh well, guess that made her abnormal huh? She didn't care, she was quite comfortable with who she was thanks.

Well let the stupid dick think whatever the hell he wanted about her, she'd show them all next time just what a little girl from Heighsham could do! Scrunching her nose up as he turned around, dismissing her like everyone else did, she whipped her head away in the opposite direction. Oh she'd give him his dues, he was good with that weapon of his, but so was she. And she wished so badly right in that second that she could just show off her skills and make them all regret the way they'd ignored her as nothing special.

She kept up her watch throughout the training session, taking note of the ones who sparked an interest. The somewhat unremarkable looking blond boy from before was surprisingly strong. The blonde girl who'd glared at her when she entered was somewhat good with a bow and arrow, but absolutely nothing compared to the brunette girl currently firing arrow after arrow into the targets at the very back of the room. The brunet guy who'd been with the blonde girl was fairly good with a sword, but much better with throwing spears. And of course the blond guy…

Clove didn't know why her gaze kept switching back to him, possibly because she kept feeling his gaze on her. Or maybe it was simply the way he handled the sword as if it was an extension of him. As if it were just another part of his arm and not just a weapon held in his hand. There was an odd sort of grace to his movements and he was incredibly powerful too.

Not that she managed to watch him fight anyone else, the rest of the room seemed to steer clear of the hostile looking male. She wondered if it was his sheer size, or just the glares he seemed to shoot not just at her, but everyone else too. It had to be his attitude, she finally decided. Because off to the side, trailing after a sweet little dark skinned girl and looking incredibly protective was yet another huge dark skinned male who was easily as big as the blond, if not more so.

It was hard to tell truthfully, he seemed to be busy training the little girl by his side and was sticking mostly down the other end of the cavernous room.

Sighing as the instructor finally called a halt to the action, she once again found her gaze sliding over to the tall blond. Why the fuck he kept glaring at her she didn't know, but it was severely pissing her off. From the minute she'd entered the room he seemed to have taken an intense dislike to her. And she hadn't done a damn thing!

She turned to walk away since everyone was now cleaning up their weapons and the floor mats, but stopped when the instructor's voice called out to her.

"Hey wait! Need to talk to you before you leave, just give me a second," he called, waving a hand in her direction.

Shrugging, Clove resumed her position of leaning against the nearby wall, arms folded over her chest as the large group began to file slowly passed her. She hadn't actually been planning on leaving, just waiting outside while the group left the room. But ok, sure she could wait in here instead. It wasn't like the eyes trailing over her as they walked past were going to be any different inside or outside of this room.

She vaguely noted, once everyone else had trooped out of the room that the blond guy from before hadn't made his way out with the rest of them and was still getting a few very last minute swipes in with his sword. She rolled her eyes at that and turned to the instructor seeing as he was now walking towards her, holding out a few sheets of paper.

"Just get your parents to fill these in, sign it, and bring it back on Thursday. Oh and be sure you bring some form of ID with you too and we'll get you all signed up and started then."

"Provisional licence ok?" she asked, reaching out and taking the papers from him. Folding them in half, she clutched them in her free hand and looked up at him. Damn it, why was everyone around here so freaking tall?

"That's fine. Training goes on all day for the older ones Thursdays, you're free to come along any time after you finish school, and all day if it's the holidays or the weekends. It usually goes on till later but unfortunately we have to close early and all the trainers have somewhere to go today."

"Ok, good to know. See you Thursday then." Clove turned then, beginning to make her way out of the hall and dismissing the still training blond as she walked thoughtfully from the room.

Behind her, she heard the trainer's voice calling out in slight exasperation for the blond guy to stop training and get his ass outta there. She didn't give it too much thought, even as heavy footsteps began to sound from behind her. Given the weight and movement, she was pretty sure it was the guy who'd spent the past few hours glaring at her for reasons completely fucking unknown to her.

Reaching the main door, she pulled it back, about to step outside when a warm body collided with her. She stumbled, almost falling at the weight pushed against her and narrowed her eyes at the jerk. "What the fuck is your problem asshole?" she hissed furiously, thankful she'd grabbed the door before otherwise he would have knocked her fucking flying!

He glanced sideways at her and she could literally watch his expression change from outright hostility to what she could only call surprise. She barely had time to register this before he swept out the door ahead of her, leaving her reeling in confusion. What the fuck? Seriously just what the fuck was that all about?

It should put her off, normal people would have probably run away screaming from the big brute, but Clove wasn't a normal person. Besides, the surprise he'd seemed to show when he'd actually looked at her in close quarters intrigued her. Oh yes, she was going to come back. One way or another she'd persuade her parents to let her train here.

Making her way outside, she wasn't surprised to see that a few of the teens were still milling around, but the blond guy was nowhere to be seen. Shrugging, she made her way past the huge dark skinned guy and the happily chattering girl by his side and turned in the direction she remembered coming upon the town centre from. She didn't truly remember the way home, but she'd memorized most of the street names so hopefully she'd manage to make it through.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket once more, she flicked to the photo from earlier and sighed. Well might as well let Dela know she'd made it here safe. She was a bit pissed to be honest, not once had the other girl texted or messaged her since she'd left this morning.

She was tempted to not say anything just to get her back, but right now Clove needed some sort of familiarity and damn it she really missed her girlfriend. Besides, she hadn't messaged Dela either, so she was also at fault she supposed.

XxxxxxxxX

To: Del

From: Clove

Hey. Made it here safe, towns a nicey nice shithole, fucking miss u. Left the 'rents 2 unpack and found a training centre like I used to go 2 though. Every1's so damn 'friendly' here… Guess I fit right in huh? Anyway, call or text me back soon yeah?

XxxxxxxxX

She pressed send, continuing to walk and waiting for the buzz that would inform her the message had gone through safely and been delivered to the other girls phone and breathed a sigh of relief when it did. The other girl would reply soon, she was sure of it. Dela always replied right away and she knew she would be missing her as much as she missed the other girl.

So she kept her phone out in her hand, holding it tightly as she trudged through street after street, trying not to get herself lost. Her parents were probably freaking, but they hadn't phoned yet, so that meant they were probably pissed and waiting for her to get home before slinging some sort of punishment at her the minute she walked through the door.

It wasn't until she reached a street she actually recognised and not just remembered the name of that her phone finally went off and she breathed a sigh of relief. Pressing the accept button, she read the message and laughed. Typical Del. Why she insisted on using that term of endearment when she knew Clove hated it, she'd never know, but this time it made her feel better instead of angry.

XxxxxxxxX

To: Clover

From: Dela

Hey baby, miss u 2. Sorry was in the shower, phones not waterproof otherwise I'd have answered sooner. Anywho, ditched the 'rentals the second you got there no doubt. That's my girl. ;P So u're gonna be the knife wielding bitch in ur new town 2 huh? I'm so proud of u. lol Now hurry up and get the hell home and set up that computer of ur's so we can talk proper. Speak soon! Xxxx

XxxxxxxxX

Typing back a message that she'd be home soon and she'd get her computer set up as quickly as possible, she shoved her phone back into her pocket and felt the smile slip from her lips as she walked up the stone pathway to her new house.

Well, here went nothing. She wasn't going to escape their ire, so it was probably best to leave bringing up the training thing till tomorrow. They'd only give her a flat out no right now and probably throw the papers in the trash or something. They'd moved her over four hours away after catching her kissing a girl after all, she wouldn't put anything past them after that. I mean seriously.

Folding the papers in half again, she slipped them into her pocket for now, exchanging them for her wallet and not her cell so her parents wouldn't do something shitty like take her phone away to keep her from being able to call Dela or something. Since she didn't yet have a key to this place, she raised a fist and knocked on the door. Time to get used to living here she supposed…


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo... erm finally here's another chapter. No one but me has read this chapter, so I'm fairly sure it probably sucks ass. However, I'm hoping it's not too bad and that someone will enjoy it. Clove finally gets to meet Cato properly. Yay! I had fun with him. 
> 
> Anywho, not a clue when I'll update again, I'm incredibly bad at sticking to schedules and even worse at getting time to write and stuff. But I AM working on this, so hopefully I'll update sooner next time. Also thanks for the comments and things! I really appreciate them all and thank you all completely. ILU all! See you soon I hope!

Clove knew she was in trouble when the door swung open after she’d knocked on it to reveal not her mother, but her father. He was normally the quiet one. Her mother was the one who dealt with the discipline. So yeah, she was in deep shit, but oh well they’d dragged her here so tough shit to them. 

She raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged, about to move past him and head up the stairs to see which room was supposed to be hers, when his voice rang out calm and stern. 

“Hold on a moment young lady. You walked off without telling us where you were going, you made your mother worry so bad she had to have a brandy to stay calm and now you waltz in here like you own this place!” 

Rolling her eyes at that, Clove attempted once more to move past her father and towards the pile of boxes, intent on at least fetching her laptop. Of course her mother chose that moment to get in her way too, and she deflated a little, groaning under her breath. They chose now to be worried, when she’d finally actually gotten back as opposed to when she was out and lost in a strange town? Fucking bullshit! Their attitude was just such fucking bullshit!

“Well you know… You could have like called me or something, seeing as I had my phone on me and you knew the number. Just saying, since you were clearly soooo worried and all.”

“Don’t you back chat us missy!” her father grumbled, his dark eyes locked onto her narrowed with anger she’d never really seen from him. Well except for when they’d caught her with Dela anyway. 

“We were plenty worried thank you very much!” her mother added, her short brown curls bouncing in time to her agitated movements. 

Clove vaguely wondered if she was actually drunk, but ultimately decided she didn’t care enough to know the answer to that right now. “Well, if you worried so much, then why didn’t you call?! Oh wait, no I know the answer to that, because you don’t actually give a damn unless I’m doing something you seriously don’t approve of!”

“Watch your language!” growled her father at the same time as her mother spoke.

“How dare you accuse us of not worrying! You ran off the second we arrived in a new town! I was about ready to call the police!”  
Yeah, it really seemed like it. Again she doubted her mother’s words, because surely if she was that worried she would have called her and then called the police. But no, there was no missed call on her mobile. And she wanted so badly, almost ached to scream at them about Dela, about dragging her here, about the fact that they never actually gave a shit about anything unless she was doing something to embarrass them in front of their oh so precious friends, but she didn’t.

Of course their friends weren’t here anymore, which was obviously why they hadn’t done a thing about her just walking away the way she had. Sadly, seeing as she wanted them to agree to let her train at that place, she had to bite back her anger, or well most of it and get over things. For now…

“I just went to take a look around. I didn’t do anything bad, I didn’t say anything bad to anyone…” Ok so that part was totally not true, but still, it wasn’t like she’d done anything truly horrible really. “And I didn’t break any laws. I went to the town centre, I bought a soda, I wandered around a bit and I came home. Jeeze...”

“Clove Vernis! We’ve had about just about enough of your lip young lady! You know what, you can take all your stuff up to your room and sort it out and you can stay there except for meal times until we decide you’re allowed out of the house. I can’t even talk to you right now!” 

Of course her mother would say that, she always said things like that. Glancing to her father and noting the stern look on his face, she sighed. Like she’d expected anything less. Unless she was doing something spectacularly bad, like kissing her girlfriend, he was pretty much just a doormat. So she didn’t expect any help or opinion from him other than to blindly follow her mother and possibly up the punishment a little if she mouthed back. 

And seeing as she wanted to keep her computer and she knew that was the first thing her parents would go for, then… Fuck she had to keep her mouth firmly shut right now or make things 10 times worse. At least she could vent to Del if she got her computer sorted soon. Damn was she ever glad her OCD dad had insisted on having all the things like the internet and cable tv sorted before they arrived today. 

“Ok ok. I’ll be good and go sort out my room,” she replied, waving a hand dismissively around as she moved forward to grab one of the boxes still clogging the hallway. 

“Hmph.” Her father again, turning on his heel and walking away, no surprise there.

“You be sure you put everything away yourself. Your father and I aren’t going to help you after we spent almost the whole day worrying over you, this is your punishment. Your room’s up the stairs and first on the left,” her mother informed her before retreating back into the living room. 

Clove snorted the minute she was gone, all afternoon? Really?! They hadn’t arrived till already into the afternoon as it was! That was a total over dramatization and they all knew it, but if she pulled them on it… 

She’d rather not waste any more time than was necessary stuck in the house, she didn’t have to start the new school till next week, and she’d quite like to spend the free time she had before then taking in the town and getting used to things rather than being trapped in the house with her daytime tv watching mother.

Sneering at nothing in general, she swapped the box she’d picked up for the one beneath it and carried her computer and favourite cd’s up to her room first. Everything else didn’t matter, but she wanted to be sure where that one was, so she could talk to Dela right away. The rest could wait until tomorrow. 

Well except for her bedding, she kinda needed that. She was just glad her parents weren’t cruel enough to make her actually set her own bed up too. That would just suck. Plopping the box down onto her bed, she glanced around, glad to note that at least her bedroom was quite a bit bigger than her old one thanks to her father’s better job here and then turned for the door again. One box down, about twenty more to go…

~~~~~

Making her way down the stairs at lunch time, Clove sighed. Her parents hadn’t spoken to her this morning and her father started work tomorrow, so this was probably her only decent chance to talk to them about training at the training center. But would they even consider it given yesterday and how against it they’d been before they’d moved here. 

But Clove had a plan, or at least the vague beginnings of one. It was half assed and not up to her usual standards, but it was all she’d been able to come up with. She’d spent most of the night talking to Dela via skype and this morning tidying her stuff away so her parents had nothing to complain about. 

Steeling herself at the door way to the kitchen, she glanced to where her parents were seated at the small table and slipped the folded papers from her pocket, smoothing them out as she walked inside.

“There’s chicken and cous cous in the fridge for you. Help yourself,” her mother informed her, glancing up from her own meal and directing her to a clean plate on the side. 

Taking a deep breath to bite back the snappy retort about how nice it was for them to fix her a plate too, she placed the papers down on the table and grabbed a knife and fork from the cutlery drawer. “Thanks,” she replied with that same false sweetness she was so used to employing. 

“What’s this?”

“Oh that… I wanted to talk to you both about that actually I…”

“Clove! You went and looked for another training center?! You know how we feel about that…”

Sighing, Clove took her now full plate to the table and sat down opposite her mother. She glanced at both of them judging their responses, both of which seemed mildly horrified and wondered how long it would take them to agree. She had a week, but she’d really rather not have to use the entire week trying to convince them.

“I didn’t go looking ok?! Just… just hear me out alright? I didn’t go looking for anything.” She paused, taking a bite of her meal and letting that soak in. 

Thankfully it seemed her father was feeling a little calmer today since he glanced at the papers flipping through them while raising an eyebrow at her indicating that she should continue. 

“Alright, well then would you care to explain how on earth this came about?”

A reasonable parent, god was it her birthday and she’d somehow forgotten or something? Sure as hell felt like it. But whatever, she’d accept it for what it was, a chance to talk to them for once, instead of them all shouting at each other. Taking another bite of her food, she shrugged and swallowed before explaining. 

“I was walking around the town centre, which totally doesn’t count as a ‘centre’ by the way, anyway I thought it was a like a community centre or something, so I went inside to look so I could try and see what this town had to offer and it turned out to be some kind of sports centre. It’s not just training like I used to do.”

Her mother looked at her father, still seeming to be caught between shock and fury and Clove wisely kept her mouth filled with her lunch instead of interfering with the silent communication her parents seemed to have entered into. If she made a fuss it would only push them into saying no before even considering it. 

“Have you finished putting your stuff away?”

“Yep, all of it’s done properly and everything just like you asked me to.” 

“And why do you think we’re going to allow you to do this when we didn’t like it in the first place back in Heighsham?”

Resisting the urge to snarl in frustration, Clove fixed a smile on her features instead and raised her head to meet her mother’s eyes. This was where she played her trump card, well what she hoped would be a trump card anyway.

“It’s every Thursday after school, all day Saturday and most of the day Sundays. It’ll be something to keep me out of trouble, and stop me hanging out with a bunch of idiots like most teenagers if I’m spending my time there. And when I’m not there I’ll be doing my homework or training for there. No time to get into trouble.”

She ducked her head then, being almost unable to keep the smile from turning sly and calculating as she took in the way her parents seemed to be debating the pros and cons of her ‘argument.’ Everything seemed to go quiet and rather than make things flare up, she finished off her food and took her cutlery and plate over to the sink.

She was just about done rinsing them off when her father’s voice sounded from behind her, calm and thoughtful as always.

“We’ll think about it, but we need time to talk this through,” was all he said. And fuck, that was more than enough for Clove. She knew what that meant, he was saying yes but he had to let her mother flail around and be angry about it first so that she could then be rational.

“Ok,” she replied with a nod as she made her way out of the room. She wouldn’t have to do more, she knew she’d played the right hand by stating how this would stop her getting into trouble like she’d done before. She didn’t see how kissing a girl was trouble, but let them think whatever the hell they wanted as long as they let her do this. And they would, she knew it.

~~~~~

Checking the letter again, she made sure she had everything she’d need for the day. Thankfully even her mother had agreed to letting her leave the house today and attending the training centre. Now she got to show them all that she was worthy of being there. She just needed her wallet and she was good to go. 

It kinda sucked that her parents hadn’t let her go all day, but she’d given in to their ‘wish’ (which was technically more of a demand than anything but never mind) and had lunch at home with them so by the time she got there she figured that most, if not all the students would be there.

Shoving her wallet into her backpack, she zipped it up and hoisted it onto her shoulder as she made her way out the front door. Locking it behind her, she turned and began to make her way towards the training centre. She hadn’t been able to memorize the way to school and the town centre by walking it, but she’d memorized things from online maps, so at least she knew where she was going this time and it would cut about 10 minutes off her previous journey, if she got it right anyway.

Thankfully it seemed she had, because the streets were becoming easily recognisable and… Aha! Barely 20 minutes had gone by this time and she’d already found her way to the down centre. It still seemed odd to have gone this way, since it wasn’t quite as direct as her original route had seemed, but hey if it worked, it worked.

Picking up the pace, she jogged towards her destination and grinned at the thought of being able to do at least one thing that she enjoyed and she knew she was good at. She pulled the door open and ignored the few teens milling around in the entrance way as she made her way towards the cavernous training room from last week. 

They were all in there, or so it seemed, she really hadn’t had time to recognise everyone. But there were quite a few people in there, so here went nothing! 

Pulling the door open, she slipped inside and deposited her bag alongside everyone else’s. Thankfully it didn’t feel like everyone’s eyes were on her this time, but she could feel a few gazes turned in her general direction. Ignoring the feeling, she turned to the trainer who was walking towards her with a smile and held out the forms to him.

“So you’re joining us then?”

She nodded, a grin playing on her lips. “Mmm hmm, all signed and ready to go.”

He reached out for the papers, flicking through them before folding them up and putting them away. “You brought your ID I take it? Just need to take a look at it and we’re good to go.” 

Clove reached for her wallet, pulling it out and sliding her ID from behind the plastic window. She handed it over to him, watching as his grey eyes skimmed over the info, matching it with what her parents had filled in on the form obviously. 

“Clove huh? Well welcome Clove.” He handed her back her ID and held out his hand again, to shake hers this time. “I’m Harwen, nice too meet you.”

Stuffing her wallet back into her pack, Clove held her hand out, and shook his. “Hi. Nice to meet you too,” she replied, flashing him her practiced grin and watching as his eyes crinkled at the edges when he returned it. She was itching to go and shifted anxiously on her feet, waiting for him to say she could actually start now. 

“Anxious I see. Well everything’s in order, so let’s see these skills of yours. What weapons are you trained in?” 

“Knives, throwing knives and I’m pretty good at fighting with daggers too,” she replied as he led her past a lot of the others and towards the back of the room. 

There were a number of dummies there, in various states of disrepair, apparently having been used many times for many different weapons. A large table covered in a variety of weapons stood off to the side and she was glad to note there were some throwing knives and even a few daggers on it. Good, she could truly show what she could do then.

Harwen moved over to the side, behind the table and out of her range as well. He waved a hand at the table, grinning at her and spoke. “We’ll see what you can do here and then I’m going to test your hand to hand combat skills. Start whenever you’re ready.”

Clove smirked at that, oh this was going to be fun. Walking over to the table, she picked up all the knives she could hold before moving back a fair distance from the ring of dummies. Though he wasn’t saying anything, she was fairly sure that Harwen seemed slightly sceptical about her distance from the targets and her ability to hit them. But no matter, she didn’t miss and this was nothing.

Raising her arm, she paused for only a second, narrowing her eyes on the furthest dummy and brought her arm swinging forward. Seconds later the satisfying thud of the knife burying itself in the dummy reached her ears and she heard a soft appreciative whistle from off to the left. The feel of multiple pairs of eyes upon her form swept over her and she sighed, but it didn’t distract her.

She raised her hand again and again, flinging knife after knife at the targets in rapid succession. They whistled through the air before thunking into the centre of the targets hearts and heads. Once she was done, she glanced briefly at where quite a few of the others seemed to be staring either with narrowed eyes or fearful expressions and turned to Harwen with a raised eyebrow.

“Any good?” she laughed, using his words from last time.

“You weren’t kidding were you? Very good, very good,” Harwen replied stepping towards her with a grin of his own. “But how are you at close combat? Shall we go find out?”

His laugh was infectious, rich and warm as he moved away from her and towards the centre of the room where mats were laid out on the floor. She actually sort of giggled, (or rather she preferred to think of it as chuckling) in response and followed him, watching as everyone seemed to create a wide circle around the cluster of mats. 

So she had to do this with an audience. Not her preferred method, at least not with all of them apparently breaking training to watch, but whatever. She glanced up and the huge blond from last week was watching her, thick arms folded over his broad chest and a smug smirk on his lips. 

She returned it with one of her own and then turned her full attention on Harwen and no one else. It didn’t take long, for having not ever known each other before, she was surprised to find their movements were oddly synchronised. He shifted, she moved to counter and yet neither of them seemed to move to strike first.

But Clove didn’t want to seem weak, or to have this go on too long. So she lunged forward, her leg striking out towards his, intent on taking them out and bringing the trainer crashing to the ground. He countered, lifting his own leg and sweeping it out to block her. However Clove had already planned a few moves ahead, she thrust her right arm towards his ribs, catching him almost unaware.

He caught her move, but a little too late so that her blow still glanced off his side. At the same time, she brought her other arm crashing into his side, striking his ribs with a thankfully pulled punch. She wasn’t trying to actually maim him after all. 

He seemed surprised by her swiftness and she felt her confidence grow. She wasn’t the useless little girl everyone but Harwen seemed to have pegged her as. Hell no. His leg struck the side of hers, calf meeting thigh and she hissed but took the force of the impact and shifted forward on her other leg. Her arm swept down, blocking his leg and pushing it away.

She jabbed him yet again in the ribs, watching him grin back at her. And from there on, their movements seemed to become a blur. His strikes almost knocked her off her feet a few times, and she knew she’d caused him to almost double over a few times, but neither relented. Their movements more like a dance than true combat as they thrust and blocked and struck time and time again.

After what seemed like hours, though was probably only really a matter of minutes, something shifted and she realised she had the advantage oddly enough. He was fast and strong, but she was swifter, more nimble and she was able to anticipate his moves about two steps before he could make them.

His body language was fairly easy to read and it was this that enabled her to plan the finishing moves before he even knew what was happening. She moved forward, seeming to enact a full frontal attack, which he predictably moved to block, but she spun on the balls of her feet like a ballet dancer and moved out of his way before the blow struck just below her ribs as it should have.

She twisted around, whirling a complete 180 and jabbing her fist into his side. He turned quickly, his eyes narrowed in concentration, though she could see the amusement behind it and she reacted. Her hand striking out for his wrist, she used his own momentum against him and sent him into a spin he clearly hadn’t expected.

He tried to halt his own movements, she could see it, but she’d already planned for that and her foot swept towards him, twisting around his own and knocking him off centre. He fell to the floor and Clove quickly followed him, one hand pressed firmly against his stomach while she used her forearm to press against his throat. 

Both of them were breathing a little heavily and he laughed up at her. She could read the look in his eyes now, pride, at her apparently. She blinked but didn’t relinquish her hold, at any moment he could easily over power her technically, she had to press her advantage while she could. 

“Do you… yield?” she panted, her twisted smirk playing upon her lips. 

“Do I have… a choice?” Harwen chuckled, shaking his head before letting himself go limp beneath her. “Yes I yield…”

It was only then, as she heard those words that she realised the entire room had gone silent. She glanced up, noting the curious, angry and uncertain looks on just about everyone’s faces and pulled back from Harwen. Hauling herself to her feet, she held out her hand to him and held herself steady as he pulled himself to his feet. 

“Well done. Been a while since anyone managed to knock me off my feet.”

Clove raised an eyebrow at that. “Well that’s good to know. Who was the last person to do that?”

“Cato,” Harwen replied, pointing to the huge blond. 

Ah so finally a name to go with the face. Clove turned to Cato, sizing him up and smirking back for what felt like the millionth time when his lips quirked up into a rather cocky smirk. She turned her attention back to Harwen when the instructor spoke again and watched him curiously. 

“Now then I think it’s time we all get back to training don’t you?” His words were somewhat stern, but the smile on his face showed he wasn’t actually being as grumpy as his tone implied. He seemed to glance around the ring of students and then spoke again. “So who wants to take on our newest member then?”

Clove stood there as silence reigned, fighting the urge to fidget in the suddenly oppressive lack of noise. Not a single person volunteered and she could see even Harwen twitching anxiously after a while. And just when she was about to walk away, something shocking happened, a smooth deep voice cut through the silence as surely as the overly sharp blade in his hand could cut through her flesh.

“I’ll do it.” 

She turned, blinking up at the hulking frame of the blond as he stepped forward and found her lips curling up at the edges yet again. Of course it would be him. 

“Ok, Clove are you ok with that?” 

Harwen seemed to be looking at her rather nervously. She understood his reservations, the guy was bloody huge! But really she wasn’t afraid of him, and it seemed right now, nobody seemed to want to take her on. Plus she’d love to see if she could even stand up against Cato and she sure as hell would love to win just so she could smirk at him and say she’d beaten him.

“Fine by me. Bring it,” she shrugged. 

“Alright then, come on people! Let’s not just stand around shall we, we’re here to train!” 

Everyone else seemed to begin drifting away, but she just kept her gaze on him, raising an eyebrow and wondering why the hell he’d offered to train with her, when just last week he’d glared at her and then pushed past her without so much as a damn apology. 

“Something wrong squirt?” he asked, his tone as confident as his stance. He shifted the sword in his hand, smirking at her and Clove growled in response.

“Last week you glared at me like you were trying to burn a damn hole through me, pushed past me almost knocking me over and now you wanna train with me? What the hell is up with that?” She folded her arms over her chest and shifted her body to rest a little more on her right leg than her left. 

“Thought you were someone else,” Cato shrugged, shooting her an amused and casual wink that made her almost want to wipe the look off his face. But she resisted barely and rolled her eyes instead.

“You’re not even going to apologise are you?” She didn’t need to ask, she knew the answer already. His easy attitude that seemed intent on teasing her, was more than telling enough. Still she asked anyway, lips pulling slightly down into a frown as she watched him.

“Nope! So now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, do you intend to stand around talking or are you here to train?”  
His blue eyes twinkled and the grin that twisted his lips gave him a far more boyish look than she’d seen so far. It sort of transformed him from a vicious looking thug, to an annoying and taunting school boy. She snorted at his words, trying to decide if she wanted to shove that bloody sword somewhere dark or chuckle at his cocky words. 

She wasn’t sure, but she thought maybe she kinda liked him. At least he wasn’t like the rest of them, afraid of her and he was clearly being himself. So shoving aside any the tiny flare of anger, she concentrated solely on him and settled for mild exasperation instead. 

“You’re impossible,” she growled, dropping her slightly defensive stance and watching as he returned his sword to the weapons rack before returning to her. Mimicking her own expression, he looked at her, one eyebrow raised in question. 

Yeah, like she was here for anything else other than training. “Just for that, I think it’s only fair to warn you I plan to kick your smart ass and then be incredibly smug about it.”

He actually laughed then, not just snorted like she had but outright laughed in what appeared to be serious amusement. The sound was rich and somewhat dark she realized as he flexed his muscles. It was almost hypnotising and her eyes followed the movement for a second, before switching back up to his face. 

Dark brown met bright blue and she could so clearly see the challenge, the promise of a good fight in them as he moved towards her. 

“Well then what was it you said before squirt? Bring it I think, yep sounds about right. So go ahead, bring it and let’s see how good you REALLY are.” 

“I plan to,” she shot back, lips curling up at the edges in a faint snarl, though she was more amused than anything. It wasn’t often she met someone who gave as good as they got and this guy could probably out rule her in the smug stakes. “And when I win, you’ll stop calling me squirt. Got it?”

“Hmm, we’ll see. I think I kinda like calling you that. You’re tiny,” he returned, rolling his shoulders.

Oh she was going to bring it now, damn right she was! She grinned up at him and he grinned back. This should be fun!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I suuuuuuck. Supreme apologies for leaving this so long! *shame face* I swear though I AM working on this story, I'm just always really slow. Anywho, I hope this chapter might appease you guys and I'm gonna go back to working now! Sorry and ILU all! I can't wait to get further into the story and I'm really trying to do that. I'll try to speed up but I don't wanna promise anything just yet cos yeah I really am bad at this whole updating thing. Again so sorry! *tosses chapter down and runs away*

They circled each other, his steps surprisingly agile for his size and every time he stepped left, she stepped right. It was like her fight from before all over again, only this guy had at least some measure of her movements now from having watched her before. And she knew his movements with a weapon, but with hand to hand combat, he was a completely new entity.  

A far more predatory one than Harwen had been. Still, didn’t mean she was going to give in and she sure as hell wasn’t going down without a fight.

She didn’t have to wait long for him to take the initiative. He darted forwards, his leg kicking out at her and she swung her arm down, wincing as the impact thudded through her forearm. Pushing aside the ache, she swept out at his legs with her own right one. She missed, he twisted away just before her leg could impact him and she scowled.

Cato’s fist swung for her then, and she stepped nimbly aside, though not quite fast enough. The blow still glanced off her ribs and she hissed at the sharp pain it produced. She’d have a hell of a bruise there tomorrow.

She moved, charging at his larger frame and his smirk was still firmly in place, but not for long! He ducked right to block her, but at the last minute she shifted on the balls of her feet and all but pirouetted around him, sinking her fist into his abdomen. He grunted, and his smirk was replaced with a scowl to match her own.

“Too quick for you?” she taunted ducking as he swung at her again.

“Don’t get cocky squirt. You haven’t won yet,” he growled back.

Laughing she swung her leg out at the same time as he punched forward. Her shin connected with his hip with a sharp smack at the same time as his fist came slamming into her upper arm. Fuck that hurt and she could see the grimace on his face, but she barely had time to process it, because his other hand came down, clamping around her ankle.

He gripped it, his grin back and incredibly sadistic as his blue eyes shone with amusement. She attempted to twist out of his hold by flipping herself like a gymnast, twisting her body around, but he was already moving.

He pushed her, sending her sprawling to the ground and the movement jarred her body painfully. She moved quickly, forcing herself to her feet and narrowed her eyes at him. It was hard to get a read on him, he didn’t seem to think logically as such like her usual opponents. Instead he seemed to think with his strength, using that to guide his movements as opposed to actively planning his next move like she tried to do.

As such it was incredibly hard to predict what he would do next, because even he didn’t seem to know, he relied on his brute strength to carry him through. He wasn’t stupid. On the contrary, he was smart, just not exactly logical was all.

“Ready to give up yet squirt?” he taunted as he moved like a raging bull right towards her.

“Not even close… smartass!” she shot back, diving for the floor and rolling out of his way at the last minute.

He turned, throwing his body around and she leapt off the floor, once more balancing on the balls of her feet. She had to be quick with him, there was no chance of winning through force, she had to stay more than one step ahead of him and be quicker than ever to be in with a chance of beating him.

With her plan of staying ahead of him in mind, she watched his leg swing for her side again and didn’t stop it. The air left her lungs in a heavy whoosh and she all but flew to the side, trying to regain her balance. It worked though, she was able to read his movements a little better now.  She was able to predict them by the way he leaned forward and slightly to the right when he kicked for example.

“Fuck!” she hissed, shaking just a little.

“Hurts doesn’t it?” Cato retorted with a slightly breathless laugh.

Sharp eyes followed as he pushed forward with a punch aimed right at her solar plexus. She couldn’t allow that one to hit, but his eyes seemed to flick to where they were going before he’d moved, she had his measure now, even if he had hers. It was just a matter of who would come out on top in the end.

Throwing herself forward and to the right, she slammed her shoulder into his chest and let her momentum carry her past him. His snarl would probably have been terrifying to anyone else, to Clove it was simply a symbol of how well she’d gotten to him.

“Ready to… give up yet Blondy?” she tossed his earlier words back at him as her arm swung for his ribs yet again.

“Keep trying… squirt,” he grunted back, dodging the fist swinging for him.

Perfect! He’d followed her movements just how she wanted him to. She shifted forward aiming for him again, but deliberately missing. He moved, trying to get at her and his momentum from seconds before, put him off balance. Taking advantage of it, she rushed sideways at him, hitting him squarely in the side.

He lunged for her again, a bear like growl ripping from his chest and fell to the floor with a thud. Clove swiftly followed him down, landing on top of him and attempting to pin him down with her weight. It didn’t work of course like she’d known it wouldn’t, but she’d still gotten him down and that was a feat in itself.

He bucked, and she was knocked from her position and sent sprawling a short distance away. As she scrambled to get up, he beat her to it. All but throwing his weight onto her, he smirked tauntingly down at her and grabbed her hands. Pinning them up above her head, he easily prevented her from hitting out at him. Bastard…

“Now then squirt… Looks like I won. So I think I’ll continue to call you that if you don’t mind,” he hissed at her.

His eyes were dark and narrowed at her, but there was that hint of a slightly twisted amusement at their predicament. Clove wasn’t done however, she wasn’t quite ready to give up without at least trying to take back the control.

“Cocky bastard aren’t you? Who said I was done fighting?” she shot back.

“I did. You don’t stand a chance of getting away from me and you know it.”

Only that was where he was wrong. He sort of hovered over her now, most of his weight pinning her wrists to the exercise mat. He seemed to think that with him so close and her hands trapped, she was no longer a threat. Oh how wrong he was about to find himself.

She let herself go limp, giving a soft huff and relaxing on command despite hating the fact that he was currently above her and in control. For now… As soon as his smirk turned positively delighted at her actions, she acted. Sometimes being so tiny really came in handy after all.

She drew her legs up towards her stomach, pulling them inwards as much as possible. She didn’t give him time to react, she simply bucked, pushing her legs upwards. They connected with his stomach in a sharp whoosh of escaping air and his eyes widened in surprise.

Taking advantage of his shock, Clove flipped, fishtailing in his hold and kicking out at his leg this time. He toppled like a stack of cards in a storm and she leapt at him before he could react. Her knees rested on either side of his hips, her lower legs planted on his thighs to hold him in place and her hands rested firmly on his thick biceps.

She wasn’t truly able to pin him, but the effect was still there. She was in charge this time, for however long it took him to break her hold. As if to prove this, she squeezed her muscles and smirked deviously at him.

“You were saying?”

“That you’re a… sneaky little bitch. Fuck, can’t believe I didn’t… see that one coming.”

Clove watched the surprise spread over his face and laughed as he groaned at his own mistake. Sneaky yes, but effective as evidenced. “I am and yes you should have seen it coming. So about that nickname…”

“Are you so sure you’re actually in charge here?”

Cato’s voice was low, sort of dangerous and held the promise of yet another battle between them, but yes Clove was fairly certain she was in charge right now. So she rolled her eyes at him and leaned down, her face mere inches from his as her smirk turned almost malicious now. Well if not for the light in her eyes anyway.

“Pretty sure I am yeah. Now I don’t like to repeat myself, but that nickname goes from here on out.”

“You know if I wanted to, I could win this with a flick of my wrist right? But sure, whatever you say princess. Better?”

Clove snarled, pressing down harder on his arms and glared at him, but his smirk was relentless. She wasn’t sure which one was worse, but they were both definitely unwanted. “I don’t like that one either. I DO have a name you know.”

Cato’s laughter was deep and booming as he shook his head. “I’ll give you a choice. It’s either Princess or Squirt. So which will it be?”

“God you’re a jerk! And I’m choosing to ignore you anytime you call me either of those.” Not the best come back, but damn it she absolutely detested nicknames, especially ones like that!

“Princess it is then,” he smirked.

“Stop calling me that!” she hissed, knowing that she sounded like a cornered cat, but unable to keep from hissing furiously anyway.

He seemed to completely disregard her comment and instead moved the conversation to another area. “Gonna let me up now? People are staring you know. Wouldn’t want them to get the wrong idea now would we?”

Glancing up, she noticed that a few people including Harwen were indeed staring at them. She definitely didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, she had Dela after all and she wasn’t even into Cato. “Just tell me you’ll stop calling me that and I will.”

Cato rolled his eyes at her, but she didn’t care, just watching him until he huffed out a response. “Fine I’ll stop.”

Having got what she’d wanted, she leaned back, releasing his arms and shifting her legs from atop his. She was just about to move off him, when he moved. He was amazingly swift and sure, she found herself on her back and pinned to the mat before she could even register his movements fully.

“For now,” he added, laughing at her yet again.

She scowled at him, and he slowly moved to let her up this time. Immediately, she moved her hand, fist clenched to punch him in the arm, but his hand shot out, wrapping around her wrist and halting the movement.

“You know you keep touching me, are you sure you don’t want them to actually get the wrong idea?” she asked tauntingly.

It was funny how she wasn’t truly mad right now, normally she would have been, but something about the easy way he spoke to her reminded her of Dela. She was still trying to work out why, and if it was a good or a bad thing, but it was ok for now she supposed.

“I think they already have the wrong idea from the fact I didn’t beat your ass into the ground and the fact that I’m actually talking to you,” he shot back, surprising her into laughing.

“I’m not sure I even want to know why you just talking to someone could be construed in such a wrong way. So help me up would you?”

She didn’t need the help, but still she asked anyway just to see his reaction. Surprisingly he actually did extend his hand down to her, with a raised eyebrow, but still. Shrugging, she took his hand and hauled herself up. They both released the hold pretty quickly and ignoring the rest of the room which thankfully seemed to have lost interest now the fight was over, she brushed herself off.

Turning away, she moved over to grab her water bottle from her pack and when she looked back, he was gone. The moment it was over it seemed he’d walked back to the sword station and was swinging the weapon with just as much deadly accuracy as ever. As if the fight hadn’t even made him breathless. The swine…

Sipping her drink, Clove made her way towards his area. He didn’t stop, but he raised a questioning eyebrow at her as if to say ‘Why are you here? This is my place, no one comes here.’ Only Clove wasn’t other people, she was her, and she had something to ask him.

Shrugging, she swallowed another sip of water and then sealed it off and put the bottle on the floor. “Why’d you let me win?”

“Ever handled a sword?” he replied, completely changing the subject and throwing her for a loop for a second.

“What?”

Cato rolled his eyes at her and finally halted his movements. “I know you aren’t stupid, I won’t repeat myself. It’s demeaning to both of us.”

“No,” she replied, eyeing him warily. What the hell was his game? And what did her ability to handle a sword have to do with anything?

His lips quirked up at the edges and he held his sword out to her, hilt first. “Thought not. Here, try it. Though you might need both hands to hold it. You might be strong, but that one’s a hell of a lot heavier than your knives.”

Instinct had her reaching out before she’d even thought it through, and the heavy weight of his weapon settled into her palm like a solid lump of lead. Holy shit! She thought swords were supposed to be light, so you could swing them properly, apparently he didn’t hold with that view. Though she guessed that helped explain his massive size. It was simply like weight training to him, she supposed.

Curling both hands around it, she lifted the weapon though her hold was somewhat shaky due to not being used to this, not knowing what he was playing at and well the damn thing was kinda heavy. “How in the hell do you even move this thing? Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of a sword if it weighs a damn ton?” she grumbled, stepping back and giving it an experimental swing.

“Here, let me show you how to use it properly,” he replied, yet again avoiding her question as he stepped towards her.

She couldn’t help it, it was an automatic response, but her body tensed up, muscles locking into place. She knew her dark eyes were wide with surprise, but what could she possibly do? Instead of doing what she’d been worried he would however, he stopped in front of her, his hands reaching out to reposition her own and eyeing her hold critically.

When he spoke, his tone was nonchalant, yet somewhat amused. “What? You didn’t actually think I was going to pull that crap they do in the movies, where the instructor stands behind the girl and presses up against her and all that bullshit did you?”

Clove breathed a sigh of relief, scowling at the merriment gleaming in his eyes and let herself relax again. Shrugging as he stepped back, she gave another experimental swing of the sword. It was easier, more natural this time.

“No, just hoping to hell you wouldn’t. I don’t think my girlfriend would like it.”

Amusement flooded her this time as his expression slackened with shock for just a split second. She shifted her stance, swiping the air in the opposite direction to where he stood and attempting to mirror his movements from before. It wasn’t as easy or as flowing as his had been, but she didn’t feel she was doing too bad of a job.

“Your girlfriend? You’re a lesbian?”

His curiosity and surprise was practically palpable, thrumming in the air between them and she twisted again, glancing over her shoulder at him with a grin and shrugged.

“Not really. I like guys too, just happened to find a girlfriend before a boyfriend.  Part of the reason I’m here actually. My parents caught us making out and went ape shit.”

His lips formed a perfect ‘o’ and she couldn’t help the chuckle that left her lips at his expression. Why she’d admitted that she’d never know, but again she felt it had something to do with how he seemed to accept her just as she was, like Dela did, without seeming to feel she should be nicer or any of that crap. Besides, it wasn’t like she was ashamed of any of it, or of her sexuality. Why should she have to be just because a big part of society had a damn problem with it?

He stepped forward before his next words and she slowly lowered the sword and turned to face him once more. “Your parents moved you just because they caught you kissing a girl? That’s bullshit.”

Shaking her head, Clove sighed and moved to lean back against the wall, her fingers still fiddling with the hilt of the sword. “Oh they say it’s because my dad got offered a better job, but I know that’s not entirely it. He wouldn’t have even considered it, if it weren’t for me and Dela. He was happy where he was, mum was too and we were fine financially. But that, among a few other reasons are essentially why we moved yeah.”

“That’s fucked up,” he replied, though it sounded almost more like he growled and when he reached for the sword, guiding her into holding it up again and moving, she let him because she was too busy trying to figure him out. Why should he even care? It wasn’t his life that had been uprooted.

“Yeah well, welcome to my life. It’s fun. My girlfriend’s 4 hours away, my parents currently hate me for being more like a boy than the perfect little girl they hoped for and half the people in here seem to dislike me just because… Well I don’t fully know why, but I’m tired of people being so damned wary of me without me actually giving them a damn good reason to.”

“Good thing I’m not wary of you then huh? They’re just scared. They’re good, but it looks like you’re better. Jealousy is an ugly thing,” he shot back, giving her a surprisingly almost friendly grin.

Yes, it was an incredibly good thing. She wasn’t the best with people, but it seemed he wasn’t either and maybe that was why it worked. Why she was comfortable with him, because they both weren’t comfortable with people. And that didn’t really make sense, except that in her twisted mind, it kinda did.

“Wow, a real compliment. Is this your new plan? Lull me into a false sense of security with flattery and then strike later with some new and truly atrocious nickname just to annoy the shit outta me?”

“Perhaps…. Is it working?” he shot back, his head tilting to the side as he regarded her sword skills once again. “Move your hand up just a little and turn it… Yeah like that. Now move.”

She did as he told her, finding the movements increasingly easy now and rolled her eyes. “Not in the slightest. But if it makes you feel any better, I could totally pretend that it is to avoid bruising your fragile ego.”

His laughter was deep and somewhat dark and his bright blue eyes narrowed slightly on her. “Your smart mouth could get you into trouble little girl,” he replied, almost teasingly. “Oh and I want a rematch. I wanted to see what you could do, but next time I won’t go so easy on you.”

And there it was, she had her answer. She couldn’t help it, laughter bubbled up in her chest and spilled from her lips with gleeful delight. “Oh you are ON. You didn’t go easy at all and we both know it. But I’ll prove I’m not just a little girl and when I do, prepare to be humiliated in front of the whole place,” she retorted with a smirk.

He snorted at her, his expression one of intense amusement and held his hand out for the sword. “You’re fast, I’ll give you that, but don’t get too cocky. I’m three times your size and I can be pretty fast too. You just got lucky.”

She snorted back at him then and handed over the sword without a second thought. She had no doubt he’d come back full force next time. He was pretty fast after all and she knew that it wasn’t simply a matter of him actually LETTING her win as such, she’d been fast and he didn’t have her measure. It was a fair win, though neither of them seemed to be admitting it.

Still he was at least somewhat aware of her capabilities now and that promised for an even more intense fight next time. With them both having to read the other’s movements while actually knowing at least somewhat what the other was capable of. She was looking forward to it.

She moved over to the knife station watching some weedy looking red head tossing knife after knife into the dummies. He didn’t seem to want to come near her, but he didn’t seem ready to vacate his spot till he was done either. So she contented herself with leaning against the wall, arms folded over her chest as she lost herself in the rhythmic thump of the knives hitting the dummies.

Of course all too soon her concentration was interrupted by the appearance of another male. This one was brunet not blond however, and she raised her dark eyes to his greyish ones. He smiled at her and her lips curled up at the edges in an approximation of a smile.

“You did well. I know he won’t admit it, but he would never just let someone win. He has too much pride for that,” Harwen said as he moved to mimic her position against the wall.

“I know. He doesn’t seem the type to not give his all. He’s right though, I’m quick, but he’s strong. He could easily have won if he had the drive to. Makes it more fun next time though when I beat him all over again and he’s trying his absolute hardest because he knows what I can do now,” she shrugged, her grin spreading wider now.

Harwen laughed, the sound deeper than her own, but not as deep as Cato’s heavy baritone. “Oh I think Cato might have finally met his match with you as a sparring partner. I’ll have to keep my eye on the two of you, this promises to be amusing.”

“Oh I’m sure it will be. I certainly intend for it to be entertaining,” Clove replied, stepping forward as the red head seemed to have finally finished his weapons training and moved on to whatever the hell he planned to do now. She didn’t care, so long as she could throw some weapons at something.

His laughter followed her as he moved off and she picked a knife, weighing it in her hand and turning it over and just feeling it. This was the first time since last week that she’d held a knife and it was odd how at peace she felt just from holding it, but given how messed up her life was right now, she was glad for some sense of stability.

Switching her grip on the knife, she lifted her arm, about to embed it in one of the dummies when the feeling of eyes on her made her skin itch. She turned, about to glare at whoever it was when a flash of blond hair not too far away caught her attention. Rolling her eyes, she watched the edges of Cato’s lips curl up and despite everything, she found a lopsided smirk twisting her own lips before they both turned away.

The thud of the knife burying itself into the ‘heart’ of the dummy soothed her and she decided that while she still loathed the fact she’d been forced here, maybe it wasn’t ALL bad after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo been a little over a month or something I know. I suck. But my muse is slowly clawing her way out of depression with me! So I bring you a new chapter and I am totally working on more. Still platonic but I really kinda like the interaction between Cato and Clove at the end of this. Drop me a review to let me know what you thought? Pleeeease? I'll love you forever and I'd just like to know if it's good or bad or what you thought. So send me some love?! <3
> 
> PS: If you want to keep up to date with my writing as I'm really trying to get better at updating sooner and stuff and you have tumblr, feel free to follow me on there: BelovedPoison. I'll be posting updates as to when a new chapter is finished, updated etc.

Things easily fell into a routine after her fight with Cato. She went straight to the training centre after school on Thursdays, all day Saturdays and at her parent’s insistence, after lunch on a Sunday. 

They actually seemed happy about it now, because she wasn’t kissing girls or getting into any other trouble. It seemed they considered it the lesser of two evils.

Another plus was that she and Cato worked well together. They’d circle around each other every class, crashing quite literally into the mats and apparently scaring the crap out of the other members, because they always gave them a very wide berth. 

Then once they were done, they’d move off to the weapons. 

Of course the only person who ever seemed to come near, was Harwen. He seemed to delight in their training, watching them with avid interest and laughing occasionally even. She supposed it was because nobody else would really go near either of them and he was just glad that they had sorted that problem themselves, without bloodshed.

Only, today she didn’t really feel like enjoying the furious dance they were rapidly becoming accustomed to. She was completely out of sorts and she knew he could sense it, because he stopped, huffing grumpily and pinned her against the mats. 

His eyes were darkened with irritation and his face drew near hers, his jaw tight. “What the hell is up with you today? Normally you fight like a hell cat and today you’re like a helpless little kitten,” he hissed.

She knew he was trying to get a rise out of her, but it just didn’t work, not in the way it usually would anyway. She shrugged, forcing him off her and shifted into a seated position. She pushed her hair off her slightly sweaty face and frowned. 

“Nothing,” she growled in response. Couldn’t he just leave it the hell alone?! 

“Right, and you’re just moping like a miserable little bitch for no reason. Yeah ok, whatever.” 

And yet, he didn’t actually move. He was still there, poised above her looking very much like a furious, hungry tiger and she was the antelope he was going to feed upon. She didn’t want to talk about it, but he just didn’t seem ready to give up. 

She liked his tenacious attitude when they were sparring, but not now. Not over this, it was just her issue, things that had nothing to do with him.

Of course, it was affecting his training and she knew that he wasn’t going to just drop it like that. He didn’t like when his training was interrupted. She’d learned that much over the last two weeks, but that didn’t change that it was HER business and not his.

“It’s… nothing. Just personal issues alright? Drop it.” 

But he didn’t. Of course not. His face hardened more and he moved back, giving her space. Instead of leaving her alone though, he gripped her arm and pulled her up along with him. Her scowl deepened, and she moved to tug her arm out of his grasp, but his hand squeezed around her wrist and he shook his head.

“Come on, you need a drink,” he informed her, pulling her towards the doors.

It was Clove’s turn to shake her head, because no. No she didn’t. What she needed was for him to just drop the damn subject and let her be if he wasn’t going to train with her. But damn it, she needed this right now, the training. 

“No. I don’t. Now let me the fuck go,” she hissed, attempting to pull her arm back yet again.

He rolled his eyes at her and she fought the urge to shove him. Not that it would do any good, he was built like a freaking mountain. But still, she wanted to in that moment.

“Yes… You do. I wasn’t asking,” he all but snarled back, pulling her from the room as if it was no effort at all.

And in truth, given their weight and height difference, she was fairly sure it took the barest amount of effort he’d ever exerted. So of course he managed to haul her out of the room and into the corridor, where the drinks machine resided. 

Finally he released her wrist and she watched with a sense of confused anger while he inserted a dollar and pressed a button, releasing a can of coke. Huffing, she leaned against the wall and accepted the drink he held out to her. 

But she didn’t open it yet, she just held it, letting the icy cold of it sting her palm while Cato towered above her, arms folded over his chest.

Sighing, she popped the tab and raised the soda to her lips, taking a deep swallow before she glanced up at him. “Look, what do you want me to say? It’s nothing to do with you, I’m just in a bad mood and its personal ok?”

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say though. He pursed his lips, pushing a sharp breath from his lungs and his eyes locked fiercely onto her own. Clove could practically feel the intense irritation directed at her. 

But there was something else there too, something she didn’t understand and it confused the hell out of her. 

“Attempting to beat the shit out of me always puts you in a good mood. You said it de-stresses you last time, so why not this time?”

God, he just wasn’t going to give up was he? Thing is, it was kinda just stupid teenage crap and she hated that she was so much like those other girls she was always condemning for being utterly pathetic about things like this. 

She sighed. Oh fuck, if it would get him off her back then fine, whatever.

“Because last time my girlfriend was returning my calls and seemed to actually want to speak to me and right now she kinda doesn’t. There, can I go now or do you plan to interrogate me some more?”

She didn’t mean to snap quite so much, but lately it just felt like Dela was beginning to pull away and it hurt. Pathetic as it was to her, it hurt that the other girl didn’t reply to her sometimes for a few hours or she was just in a hurry to do things when she did and wasn’t the same as she used to be. 

Sure it was hard being away from her, but that wasn’t Clove’s fault. Del knew that, and surely she was just dealing with it the only way she could. But it still annoyed and hurt Clove that her girlfriend was doing that when she’d been so quick to respond up until a few days ago.

“So this is about your girlfriend? Christ… I thought there was something seriously wrong,” he groaned.

Clove couldn’t help the snarl that left her lips and instinctively, she lunged forward. To get away from him? To hurt him? Even she didn’t know what the hell she was doing to be honest. She kinda just wanted to drop this conversation full stop. And maybe to ‘kill’ something. 

She moved to push past him, and she knew by the expression on his face that her glare was cold enough to freeze the fires of hell, but once again he prevented her.

His heavy weight pinned her to the wall, his hands clamping around her wrists and holding her steady while she hissed at him to let her go. But he didn’t, of course he didn’t. “Hey hold on Spitfire. Just chill a minute. I’m really no good at this shit and that obviously came out wrong, but just wait a sec alright?”

Another nickname… At least this one wasn’t degrading as such. Well it was, but not in the same way as princess for example. 

“Obviously,” she shot back, though she found herself pausing anyway. It was really damn hard to move him, even when she used all her skill and strength, so there wasn’t much point trying and honestly she wasn’t in the mood to try all of a sudden. “And you promised no more nicknames.”

Of course Cato ignored her ire. He smirked teasingly, shaking his head at her as he finally eased off her wrists and snagged the can of pop from her hand. “I promised for now, but that was two weeks ago. Break’s over.”

Watching him sip from the can he’d stolen off her, she rolled her eyes and thunked her head back against the wall with a groan. God he was infuriating sometimes, well a lot of the time when he was acting like this actually. “So that really was your plan huh?”

“What? You don’t like Spitfire? It suits you, you’re a little… Woah! Ok, ok, calm down already.” He held his hand out in supplication and offered her the can with the other when she moved to swipe at him, and she held back her movement for now. “Not so little spitfire and you know you are.”

That was almost something she could live with. ALMOST, but damn it why did he even need to give her a nickname anyway? Clove wasn’t exactly a long name for fucks sake and Spitfire was even longer. 

Snatching the can out of his hand, she huffed and swallowed down a huge swig. “Do you REALLY have to call me anything other than my damn name?”

He seemed to pause, to think it over carefully, his head tilting to the side as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall. His shoulders rose and fell in a lazy shrug and he replied with that almost cruel smirk of his. 

“Hmm… Yes I really think I do.”

“You are without doubt, the most obnoxious guy on the damn planet.”

“Yet you continue to talk to me. I think you like me you know.”

She didn’t have an answer to that, because annoyingly, yes she still did kinda like him. He was becoming a good friend of sorts. Not that she’d be admitting that out loud, neither of them seemed to work that way and it was fine. 

“Yeah you keep telling yourself that. Maybe one day, in your dreams it’ll come true,” she replied finally. 

But it was too late, her response far too slow. The growing amusement in his blue eyes, the way his lips curved into a broad smirk instead of the taunting slight one he usually wore, told her it was far too little, too late. 

He stole the can of drink from her, ignoring her protest of complaint and raised an eyebrow at her. “I paid for it and you’re drinking it all.”

Ok, fair enough, but still he’d bought it for her. So grinning, she reached out and attempted to snatch it back, beginning a tussle between them for the drink. 

He twisted away from her, smirking back and the can almost upended on the floor between them at the same moment as Harwen peeked his head around the doorway. His grey eyes glinted in amusement and he raised a questioning eyebrow at the two of them.

“Came to check you hadn’t killed each other in a fit of rage. People are taking bets in here over who’s gonna win you know.”

She glanced up at Cato, who shrugged and turned to look back at Harwen. “Yeah? And what’s the betting up to?” he asked in that deep, rumbling voice of his. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was pissed, but she could read the amusement in his bright blue eyes.

“And who do they think is winning?” she added on.

Harwen chuckled at them both. “$20 right now, and given your mood just a few minutes ago, you’re billed to win Clove.”

Cato growled softly and Clove’s laughter grew into a full out cackle. He glanced over his shoulder at her and she couldn’t do anything but laugh more. Not out of spite, or rather not purely anyway, it just amazed her that anyone would actually bet on her against Cato. 

Sure she did manage to win a few times when they fought, but still he was huge even to a normal sized person and seriously strong. 

“We’ll come in when the bets are higher,” Cato informed him with a dismissive wave and a slight grin.

That was news to Clove. Since when did he control what she did anyway? Her lips pulled down pursing in disapproval of his words and she moved to follow Harwen when he re-entered the training room. Cato however seemed to have other plans.

His arm shot out, grasping her by the wrist yet again and he gave a shake of his head. What the fuck was that all about?! She really didn’t get him sometimes. What could he possibly want with her? “What?” she snapped, tugging her arm from his hold and folding both her arms over her chest.

She didn’t understand the huff that left the blonds lips, nor the frustrated look on his face. Seriously what the hell was he playing at with stopping her from going back into the room?

“Clove… For fucks sake! Look, like I said I’m no good at this shit, but would you just… sit down a minute?!”

She watched him sink down to the pristine floor beside the soda machine and she could feel the frown lines forming on her forehead. Sit down? What the fuck for? And why couldn’t she place the way he was acting? I mean sure they were together for most of Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for the past two weeks, but it wasn’t like they were…

She blinked as a realisation came to her. He actually considered her a proper, true friend? From everything she’d heard people saying about him the last two weeks, he didn’t exactly do friends or anything even close to it. So this was incredibly shocking to her. 

The fact that he appeared to want to spend time with her, without either of them attempting to teach the other how to use their weapon of choice or beat the crap out of each other was even more surprising.

Not to mention, he never used her name, it was always one of those god awful nicknames he insisted on using. So why now? That one simple thing gave her enough pause not to simply turn and storm away from him. 

“Tch… Fine whatever,” she grumbled, sliding down to the floor beside him.

He glanced at her, his head turned slightly to the side and she could see the usual anger mingled with complete exasperation. A look that told her she was still missing something, though for the life of her, she honestly had no idea what.

“You’re so damn hostile,” he muttered with a huff, closing his eyes and tilting his head back against the cool wall.

“So are you,” she shot back instantly. 

His head turned towards her yet again and there was the ghost of a smirk upon his lips, heavy amusement glinting in his blue eyes. “Hmm, suppose I am. Good thing we match then huh?”

“Yes, what a wonderful thing to be glad about. You’re really very strange you know.”

She could see the brief moment of anger that flashed through across his face, but it was gone in seconds and he simply shrugged in response, giving out a grumbled reply she could barely catch. 

She was pretty sure though, that it was something along the lines of ‘Like you can talk Spitfire,’ and it made her almost laugh. 

She really hadn’t thought it possible given their first meeting and the fact that both of them seemed generally incapable of dealing with people in almost every single case, but she did like him. And for some inexplicable reason he appeared to like her. She really didn’t know what to make of that, but for now it was simply good and that would have to do. 

“All right then, so what exactly are we supposed to do now? Soda’s gone by the way.”

He grabbed the empty can out of her hand with a roll of his eyes and tossed it in the general direction of the nearby trash can. Apparently he didn’t much care whether it made it or not. And it didn’t, missing the rim only marginally and clattering to the floor with a crunch. 

“My plan didn’t exactly get that far. Come on, you’re supposed to the smart one here, you figure it out.”

She knew that wasn’t true, he probably had some sort of plan, she just wasn’t completely sure what it might be. He definitely wasn’t completely stupid, just tended to go by instinct and feeling a little more than thought most of the time. Still she’d go with it, because she’d just realised that in this entire time she hadn’t once thought about her problems with Dela. 

Until now anyway, and she was incredibly grateful to him for that. It still pissed her the hell off, but she was feeling a little calmer about things now. She really hadn’t expected to find an ally in this shitty town, especially not in him, but she was glad she had.

“So basically your plan was just to distract me and make me forget what was going on and then… What, just see how much we can force people to bet on who wins once you found out about that just for the hell of it?” She doubted that was entirely it, but it seemed a pretty fair assumption.

“Yeah, pretty much. Worked didn’t it?” he replied with yet another slight shrug. 

Rolling her eyes, she shifted her position without even realising it and leaned a little more towards him, almost against him. “Yes fine, ten points to Mr Awesome. Well done you.” 

“You think I’m awesome? See told you, you liked me,” he joked back, shifting his position too. 

They ended up with their shoulders actually touching, sorta pressed together and oddly enough she didn’t mind that either. His presence was strangely comforting, even now, so she didn’t even try to question it. 

“Why do you even care anyway?” she couldn’t help but ask after a few moments of oddly comfortable silence. 

“I thought that part was rather obvious, but if you need me to tell you then… Well you have more problems than I thought,” he grumbled, raising an eyebrow at her into that disdainful look he always had.

She urged to lunge at him again, but at the same time, she realised she totally got it. This was what friends were supposed to do for one another, she just hadn’t really experienced it much before. Del was somehow different, and she wasn’t simply a friend, so this was still new territory to her.

“Feeling like a smart aleck today are we? Yes fine I get it.” She turned to him, her dark eyes alight with amusement this time and her lips quirked into a heavy smirk. “You tried to help, you obviously like me too. You made a frieeeeend. I’m so proud of you,” she said drawing out the E deliberately.

The snarl he gave out in response made her laugh out loud and she nudged him with her shoulder. He responded in kind, almost knocking her over, but she was more amused than angry. Especially when he growled out a response.

“Shut up. I totally did not, I just like annoying you.”

Of course, they both knew that wasn’t the truth, not the whole truth anyway. But she was more than willing to just leave it as it was. They both knew where they stood without the other saying it, so why make things awkward when they were comfortable with each other and how things were?

“Right, I must have forgot. Though I don’t know how, considering just how much you obviously enjoy annoying me.”

He didn’t reply, not for a while, but he simply shifted to lean more heavily against her and she soaked in his warmth as her thoughts shifted once again to her absent girlfriend. 

Things with Del would surely calm down once they both adjusted to not being able to be near each other all the time. It would just take a little adjustment. God she hoped she could somehow make it up to see Dela at some point, because this whole distance thing was killing her.

“So you really miss her huh?” he finally asked after a few more moments of quiet contemplation. 

“Duh, no shit Sherlock…” The cold glare he shot at her actually made her feel almost kinda bad. Almost. But still, she hadn’t meant to treat him like such shit when he was actually trying to be what amounted for nice when it came to either of them. “Ergh look, I didn’t mean to… Yeah I miss her pretty damn bad right now.”

“The ‘rents still won’t relent on things then?”

“Nope. Kissing girls is still really fucking disgusting and bad apparently.” She huffed then, almost missing his next words with thoughts of just how much she detested this whole homophobic bullshit deal her parents had going on.

“Then maybe you should be kissing boys.”

His words sounded perfectly serious and even the look on his face was as well and oh how she wanted to smack him in his perfectly sculpted face. Her hand even raised up to do so, but at the last minute he once again burst into laughter and swung his own arm up to stop hers.

“Hey, hey, easy now Spitfire. It’s called a joke… Come on, you know I was only kidding. Look, you have a girlfriend and your parents are being dumb shits about you liking girls, I get it, I was just trying to cheer you up.”

“Yes and that helped so much, thanks a million for that one.” 

The urge to hit him faded once again however and she briefly marvelled on his ability to make that happen with just the simplest of gestures. She didn’t even think on it as she dropped her head with a thud against his broad shoulder and closed her eyes, she just did it instinctively. 

When he didn’t even seem to mind it or make any sort of complaint, she rested her head more completely against him and took a long, deep breath.

“Glad I helped,” he shot back with a slight chuckle. He didn’t move any closer to her, but he certainly didn’t move away at all, so it was fine with him she guessed. “Hey so uh you know there’s the monthly meal out coming up this Thursday right? Someone told you about that yeah?”

She blinked in astonishment and lifted her head from his shoulder, twisting to look at him in surprise. A meal for the people in their training class? Nope, she hadn’t heard a single word about it. 

Of course she didn’t exactly speak to anyone but him and occasionally Harwen so that was easily explainable, but still if he hadn’t mentioned it she would have probably had no idea about it until afterwards.

“Yes, because I’m oh so friendly everyone was clamouring to tell me all about it,” she muttered.

“Alright li… Miss Sarcasm, point taken, but I figured at least that Harwen would have told you about it, you being his new pet and all. And no, before you get in a snit, that wasn’t a sarcastic comment, just a real one ok? But yeah I thought he would have told you about it.”

He shrugged lazily at her and she rolled her eyes, though she supposed it was kinda true. Harwen didn’t exactly favour her over the others, he was there for all of them, but she knew he watched her progress a lot right now. 

“No, he didn’t say anything,” she huffed, shifting again and flopping down against his shoulder. This time he raised an eyebrow at her, but he didn’t stop her at all. 

“Well there’s a meal Thursday night. You’re coming right?”

Well that was one hell of a way to ask someone to go to a group meal, but seeing as it was him, it was just what she’d expect. “Yeah I guess so,” she replied with a shrug of her own as a thought occurred to her. “How in the hell do they afford a meal for so many people anyway?”

Cato grinned at her then, not smirked like he usually did, or sneered like she did, but simply grinned. “Well they don’t really need that much of the weekly fees for using this place, the trainers pay or the weapons since the trainers makes them all, so once a month they pull the remaining money for the month together and take a lot of us out. Not everyone always goes, but enough of us do. It’s supposed to help build bonds or some shit. I just go for the sorta free food.”

Ok well that made sense and she could definitely see Cato doing that. “Anything I need to know about this special meal then? And what time?” She suddenly found herself hoping to hell her parents wouldn’t have some kind of problem with it. But they’d been remarkably lenient lately with Dela four hours away.

“Seven ‘o’ clock. Training’s kinda cut really short on those Thursdays so people can shower and change before we eat and… Seems to be an excuse for most of the girls to dress up and flirt a lot. So uh… beware of that and I think that’s about it.”

Ok, well that wasn’t too much info to take in, and she could cope with that. Besides a night out, even with people who barely spoke to her was preferable to doing nothing at all as usual.

She briefly pondered what to wear for the outing. She wasn’t the type to do something just because others were, but the fact that this was a group meal and the other girls would apparently be dressed up, left her wanting to dress up. That was just what she did on nights out like this, even back home and she quite enjoyed it to be honest. But only occasionally…

“Great, thanks for the warning. I’ll totally try to steer clear of any and all dressed up, flirty girls. Duly noted.”

He chuckled again, shifting beneath her and pulled himself to his feet. “Right then, come on. Let’s go see if people are still betting on us. I totally won by the way.”

Clove scrambled to her feet and scowled up at him, once more distracted from her problems with her girlfriend by Cato’s comment. “Like hell you did! I’ll beat your ass again just to prove it!” 

He led her into the room, their teasing bickering switching to their usual insulting snarls and she gave a sigh of relief. He might not be the most conventional of friends, but then she wasn’t either. And she still liked him all the same.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm what's wrong with Cato I wonder? He seems different but Clove can't figure it out either. And what on earth is Glimmer alluding to? Find out by reading! lol Dedicating this chapter to AutumnWillow18 over on FF.net, I couldn't reply because she reviewed as a guest but my answer was going to be I'll be updating soon. I hope this update is soon enough for you! Drop me a review? Am I doing something wrong? I know it's slow but I don't want to rush their relationship, I'm having fun building things. Anywho, let me know what you all think?! ILU all! XD

Clove placed her make up brush down and glanced in the mirror one last time when her phone buzzed on the side table. Picking it up, she glanced at the screen and opened the message page. She already knew who it would be from, but she was still glad to see she was right.

Dela's messages had become few and far between of late. She'd always apologise for it, but she never seemed to be remedying the issue of her late replies. The other teen always spoke to her over the computer every night but even their marathon skype sessions had dwindled to an hour tops. And that was if she was incredibly lucky.

The message flashed up on screen and Clove felt mollified for now. Every time she attempted to bring this issue up with Del, the girl would brush it off in her usual manner and deflect everything with questions about Clove's new life.

Still, for now the brunette was content. She didn't have time to worry about her love life or the problems related to it.

xxxxxx

To: Clover

From: Dela

Miss u like crazy. Life's boring here without u. But u make sure 2 have fun 2night k? Call me when u get back and let me know how it went. And u tell that boy 2 keep his hands away from my girl or I'll come over there and kick his ass.

xxxxxx

She rolled her eyes at that, Cato wasn't interested in her. And even if he was, he seemed to accept that she had a girlfriend and respect it. He was a friend, a really damn good one to her right now, but neither of them had even hinted that they wanted anything more and she certainly didn't.

Still, it was nice to know that Dela actually cared enough to be jealous right now. She seemed to be glad of Cato in theory, grateful she had a friend, but occasionally she appeared to worry that he was going to actually hit on her.

Personally the thought of him doing that struck Clove as incredibly funny and she almost laughed at the idea of it. She was fairly sure she'd seen him eye up Glimmer a few times and if that was his type, then she seriously doubted her slightly more boyish figure would do anything for him even if circumstances were different.

Tapping out a message, she pressed the send button and turned to the bed where her dress lay spread out and waiting to be put on.

xxxxxx

To: Del

From: Clove

Life's boring without u 2. But Cato makes it almost bearable, plus it's fun 2 beat the crap out of him. ;) He's totally not in2 me I swear, think he's got his eye on that blonde bitch I told u about actually.

Anyway, call u l8r. Gotta get dressed and go. Would love 2 see u kick his ass though, he really is freaking huge! Miss u 2!

xxxxxx

Sliding the dark silvery material on, she smoothed it down over her body and turned to glance in the mirror. The heavy material of her skirt barely moved, but it made a soft swishing sound when it did shift a little around her thighs.

The tight bodice clung to every inch of her and gently flared out just a little at the hips to accentuate them. She might not have quite the curves that Glimmer did, but she didn't think she looked all that bad. Her curves had seemed enough for Dela after all and she thought the dress looked good on her.

Even her mother had said so back when she'd bought this one and that was a pretty big thing to be honest.

The silvery material matched the smokey, grey eyeshadow she'd applied and she rather liked the effect, especially with a little mascara added to darken and lengthen her eyelashes even more. A hint of black liner rimmed her eyes to finish them off and she'd added a quick slick of clear lip gloss.

Yep, she was ready. She was actually kind of looking forward to this, even if the rest of the group still seemed to keep a somewhat wary distance from her.

"Clove! Come on, if I'm going to drive you to this thing, can you at least get a move on?" her father called from down the stairs.

Huffing, Clove snatched up her little silvery purse and tossed her phone, keys and wallet inside along with her lip gloss. Well it was now or never. She wasn't entirely sure how tonight would turn out, or if she was currently making a monumental mistake, but damn it she was not about to just not turn up and make it look like she was too weak to face a few hours with them all outside the training centre.

And besides, Cato would be there. She didn't need to worry whether the others would pay any attention to her, he would. He always did. "I told you Cato would take me, but you were the one who insisted on this," she grumbled under her breath before raising her voice so that he could actually hear. "Yeah alright, I'm coming!"

Practically skipping down the stairs two at a time, she stopped at the bottom and cocked her head at her father. She thought, for a moment, that he was going to disapprove her outfit and tell her to change. But finally, after a moment of looking her over, he nodded, seemingly satisfied.

She took a deep breath and grinned at him. "Ok I'm ready now."

"Took you long enough," he grumbled, though she could see the slight grin on his face all the same. They both knew she hadn't taken long at all. She never really did, even when getting ready for special occasions like this.

Following him out to the car, she sank into the front seat and carefully smoothed out the bottom of her dress. Her dark eyes flickered over the houses and trees that they passed and without thought, she found herself drumming her short nails on her thigh.

She wasn't sure if it truly was a good thing that she was growing so accustomed to Cato that the thought of him just being somewhere soothed any worry she might have otherwise felt. But seeing as he was currently all she had, she decided it wasn't really a bad thing.

Even someone as unsociable as she was, wasn't stupid enough to complain about someone being there for her after all.

Lost in her thoughts, it surprised her when the car stopped outside the restaurant/bar she'd been directed to. She couldn't help a brief flare of worry that something would go wrong, only because no one else seemed to talk to her much even now.

"Alright, I'll see you later then." She almost managed to bounce out of her seat and into the building before her dad leaned across the car and called out to her.

"Clove! No drinking of any kind and make sure you call me when you're done, I'll come pick you up ok?"

Sighing, she nodded and held up her phone. "Of course not and yeah alright."

He seemed to be satisfied by that and she sighed as she stepped into the restaurant. Damn it, why couldn't they accept that Cato was fully capable of walking her to and from the place. It was only a 15 minute walk after all. But anyway, speaking of Cato…

She paused, glancing around as groups of teenagers caught her attention. None of them was the group she was looking for though and she couldn't see them anywhere. Almost allowing herself to think this was some prank, she licked her lips and glanced around again when a deep chorus of laughter erupted from the far off corner.

It wasn't hard to spot Cato, or Marvel and Thresh for that matter. The three guys were pretty tall after all, and both Marvel and Cato's laughter was rather loud and raucous. The booth they were in, seemed kinda small and she worried yet again that this might still be some sort of trick, but hell if she was going to lose face in front of any of them.

Squaring her shoulders, she drew herself up to her full height, even if it didn't really make much difference and stepped towards them. Her heels clicked on the hardwood flooring and with every step she took, her movements seemed to speed up just a little. For good or bad she wanted this over with ASAP.

Harwen seemed to catch her eye first, his gaze flicking to her and then back to the table, before he did a complete double take. She couldn't help it, the surprise on his face amused her intensely and she smirked as everyone else seemed to take note of his preoccupation.

She could feel them all looking her over, trying to match her up to the Clove they knew. The fierce, vicious tomboy who could take Cato down and never looked in the least bit girly. It was just too damn funny. But the one that really caught her attention was the blond himself.

His blue eyes locked onto her, wide and surprised like a deer caught in the headlights of a vehicle. And her lips twitched further at the sight of it. Well it was nice to know she could have that sort of effect on people, but jeeze didn't they know it was rude to stare?

"Hey. Cat got your tongue?" she asked addressing Cato since he seemed the most shocked right now.

"Hey uh… you found the place then," he replied swallowing heavily as his gaze swept over her yet again.

Well that was new, Cato tongue tied. He never seemed to have a problem talking, if you didn't count the fact that he just plain chose not to talk to people usually anyway. But actually having trouble speaking… That was, as far as she was aware, a total first.

Shrugging, she replied. "Wasn't all that hard, but yep."

"Hello Clove. Take a seat," Harwen finally said, grinning and gesturing her to join them.

Only trouble was, there wasn't anywhere to sit. So she wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to do. Of course this was where her worry from earlier kicked in again. Where they all just going to act like she wasn't here and leave her standing here like an idiot?

"Uh yeah sure. Would help if… you know…" She turned to the group, raising a carefully arched eyebrow at them all.

Thresh seemed to be ignoring her and everyone else as usual in favour of watching protectively over Rue. Marvel was gazing at Glimmer and attempting to get her attention. Said blonde was currently glaring at her like she was a slug or some shit and Katniss and Peeta looked like they were trying to figure out where the tomboy had disappeared to and if this made her any friendlier. It didn't.

The rest of the group seemed to be mixed between ignoring her and staring openly at her. It was growing rather annoying all things considered. She wanted to damn well sit down thank you very much. "What did I grow two heads while I wasn't looking or something?"

Cato was the first to react, his deer in the headlights look vanishing in favour of a pleased smirk at her attitude remaining the same as ever. That seemed to snap him out of it finally and he grunted, shoving at Marvel who was seated next to him to move over.

Only the other brunet didn't seem inclined to comply and didn't actually move at all. Harwen seemed about to open his mouth and say something, when the most surprising thing of all happened. Cato's arm snaked out, grasping her around the waist and he tugged her closer to him.

She barely had time to breathe, not that she was even able to right now, before she found herself situated on his lap. His arm still curled around her waist and his chest pressed against her back warm and heavy. His body was familiar, yet somehow alien to her in this setting and she turned her head blinking at him.

"Cato, what the fuck?" She hissed, squirming to get free from his heavy hold.

Harwen seemed inclined to agree with her question, because he fixed Cato with a stern glare. "I don't think that's entirely appropriate Cato."

The noise around them seemed to die down, and the entire group seemed to stop moving, stop talking and practically stop breathing as they stared between her situated in Cato's hold and Harwen with his disapproving glare.

But really, Cato wouldn't have had to do this if the others would have just moved up! Turning her head to the side, she could see the tightness in his jaw, feel the tense way his arm gripped her hip and she didn't need to be this close to know he was seconds away from exploding with fury.

"Then tell them to move the fuck up and give her somewhere to sit," he hissed back.

"Guys, come on. Clove can't very well sit there all night. Let's move up a bit shall we?"

Harwen's words finally seemed to break the spell. The entire group began to shuffle, shifting to make enough room for her to squeeze on the end, next to Cato.

For perhaps the first time ever, she was quite glad that she was so small and didn't really need much room at all, otherwise she'd be screwed right about now.

Cato still seemed to be locked into angry mode, but then that was nothing new. Harwen however looked about ready to issue another reprimand to the older teen. How could he not understand Cato was just a friend who was trying to make things right?

There was nothing inappropriate going on at all, he was just surprised to see her dressed up and trying to give her somewhere to sit.

Thankfully, yet again it seemed that interruption was the name of the game tonight because just as Harwen seemed about to speak to Cato, Marvel of all people stepped in with a comment Clove had never expected to hear from the other brunet.

"You look nice Clove," he announced, glancing her over.

"Uh yeah thanks…" she muttered, watching as Glimmer hissed like an angry snake. She could only guess that the brunet hadn't commented on her outfit when she arrived. Which Clove had to admit was rather striking to be honest. The golden glow of her form fitting dress made her hair gleam. But yet she seemed to be the only one getting a compliment.

Cato laughed beside her and she could feel him lean down towards her. "Cat got your tongue Spitfire?"

Rolling her eyes, and attempting to pull something of herself back, she huffed and elbowed him in the side. "No, but I'll cut out yours if you keep using that appalling nickname," she scowled up at him, watching as his lips curved up into a taunting smirk.

The entire group caught her words and laughed. She settled deeper into her seat, listening to Marvel attempt to placate Glimmer and sighed softly. Honestly, she'd thought the girl was after Cato, but she seemed to be rather annoyed at having lost Marvel's attention for even a second.

They had been rather close from what she could see since she'd arrived. But it was also obvious that she was into Cato, so that left Clove thinking the blonde a greedy bitch who wanted everything her own way.

"What? She does…" Marvel said, leaning defensively away from the blonde as if she were a bomb about to go off and Clove secretly thought it an apt description of the other girl right now.

"Nice to see someone finally grew a backbone and can think for themselves," Cato grumbled as he glanced over at Marvel, who huffed back in response before turning back to Glimmer. "He's right though, you look nice," he whispered to her.

His words caused her to pause for a second at the unexpected compliment, but she grinned in response, because girlfriend or no, it was nice to know people thought she looked good. A much more articulate response came to mind this time. "Thanks."

"Are you saying I don't?" Glimmer growled at Marvel, apparently ignoring everyone else in favour of gaining her answer right now.

"No! Of course not, you look great too," the older brunet backtracked quickly.

Katniss who had apparently been deep in conversation with Peeta and simply blocking them all out until now, frowned at the older girl and sighed. "Of course you look great. You wouldn't have it any other way."

Her tone was low and careful as she tried to placate Glimmer and Clove really hoped it worked, because she really didn't feel like dealing with any of this crap right now. She had enough to deal with as it was.

"And on that note, let's all keep our knives away from Clove, agree that all the girls look very pretty tonight and order our food shall we?" Harwen joked, picking up his menu and clearly trying to keep order.

Thankfully, it seemed to work. Either that or Glimmer was really hungry, because she seemed to let go of her plans to berate Marvel for not commenting on her outfit and concentrated on flipping through the menu.

Either way, Clove didn't really care, she was just glad of a few quiet seconds to just think and be herself now that the fear of this being some twisted joke was laid to rest.

Sound seemed to filter back in in quick succession now. Rue was chirping like a little bird about something Clove honestly couldn't quite catch while Thresh seemed to be listening intently. Katniss and Peeta were whispering rapidly in the middle of the group and Glimmer was flicking her gaze between her, Cato and her menu.

Marvel on the other hand, seemed to have sensed it was pointless trying to engage the blonde in conversation, even to placate her and began engaging Harwen in some sort of discussion about football or something equally boring.

Cato meanwhile seemed to still be at least slightly caught in the mode he'd been before and glanced her up and down as he stretched his arm out over the back of the booth seat.

His blue eyes slightly narrowed, in confusion she supposed, travelled over her slightly shimmering dress, her carefully styled hair and then her made up face.

She had to give a soft laugh, he didn't seem to quite know what to make of it. Maybe even now, he still wondered where his vicious training partner had gone and why she'd been replaced with this girl he didn't quite understand.

"Didn't know you were… You know into all that girly stuff," he muttered waving a hand over her form.

He didn't seem annoyed like usual though, just genuinely surprised. And maybe, going by his reaction it seemed a kinda good thing too. So Clove shrugged, smirking at him from the side of her own menu as he scoured through his.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me Cato Keyes," she replied confidently, running her finger down the menu as she tried to decide what to have.

"Clearly," came his half amused, half surprised reply.

"Neither did I," came another voice. Higher than Cato's, but no less sharp and almost vicious sounding, a voice that made her turn to view the speaker head on.

Glimmer of course. But the look in her eyes wasn't that angry, waspish look she'd worn before. It was considering, calculating and apparently almost approving. Clove honestly wasn't sure what to make of it, but having settled on a burger and fries, she closed her menu and placed it down as she turned to the blonde girl with a raised eyebrow.

"Nobody ever asked. Hell nobody ever bothered to ask anything and I didn't feel like sharing. But whether anyone's noticed or not, I AM a girl same as you are. I just don't do this often is all."

Glimmer seemed to chew that over, almost literally as it happened seeing as her bottom lip, carefully covered in dark red lipstick was caught between her perfect white teeth and her head tilted to the side as she narrowed her eyes at her.

Clove felt uneasy again, not because she was scared of the girl or anything, hell no. Just because she seemed to be eyeing her in a different light and honestly, she wasn't entirely sure what kind of light that was right now. It was beyond confusing frankly and she wasn't sure she liked it.

The other girl glanced at Marvel who shrugged and then her gaze fixed on Cato who seemed to be studiously studying his menu and ignoring them all. Only Clove was sure that mere seconds ago, he'd been looking straight at her. Weird…

"Oh I think some people have noticed," the blonde girl replied.

She seemed to be caught between smirking in a sort of victorious way and pursing her lips thoughtfully. In the end, the cold calculating pursing of her lips won out and she whipped her head away to flick through her phone leaving Clove more confused than ever.

What the hell did that mean? She glanced at Cato, eyebrow raised and he simply shrugged in response.

"Don't ask me. Sounds like girl talk to me, nothing I'm interested in."

"Thanks, that's super helpful. Seriously," she huffed lightly, turning back to the table at large.

Ignoring the tinkling golden laugh that simply had to come from Glimmer, and the scowl from Cato at her words, she turned to Harwen who seemed to be watching them all with a confused and slightly wary expression.

But when Marvel returned to the previous conversation, he seemed to slip into it easily and Clove was left pondering things.

Just who in the hell had Glimmer been referring to? Well if she put things into context, with the way the girl had looked at Cato, it would clearly be him. Except, he was sooo not interested in her that way. He'd made that clear with the way he continually seemed to refer to her as a kid and it was also clear that the way he looked at Glimmer wasn't quite the same way he looked at her.

So no, she was just trying to wind her up, she was sure of it.

Pulling herself out of her own deep thoughts, Clove tried her hardest to tune into what Marvel and Harwen were currently discussing avidly. Soccer? Really? She didn't have a problem with sports, but that was so damn BORING!

"Jeeze, is it a built in guy thing that some of you get together and you just HAVE to talk about soccer or something? Really it's so damn boring. "

Harwen chuckled, while Marvel looked offended and then it seemed even Peeta broke off from his conversation to join in. Yep, definitely a guy thing then.

"What's the matter with it? Not enough violence for you?" he asked with a mild grin.

"Nope, definitely not enough. They're all pathetic when they get injured too. They roll around on the floor clutching their ankles or whatever and crying like babies. It's ridiculous" she responded truthfully with a light roll of her shoulders.

"Oh and I suppose you like American football better? Where a bunch of brainless idiots crash into one another and toss the ball around or something?" a short redheaded boy who's name she didn't know questioned from the corner of the booth.

Shrugging heavily now, Clove gave a faint nod. "Actually yes. American football, Ice Hockey, wrestling, and just about any contact sports really. Because at least when they go down they have a reason to be in pain. And it's kinda fun to watch them hurt each other."

From beside her a deep rumbling laugh erupted and she glanced to the side at Cato as his blue eyes crinkled with mirth. "Of course you'd only like the kinds of sports where people are far more easy to bleed. Sounds about right."

Smirking back playfully, Clove laughed deeply. "What can I say? Watching angry guys throw themselves at each and get hurt is way more interesting than watching some skinny little guy run up and down a field and kick a ball around."

The table erupted then, guys agreeing, not agreeing, some of the girls sighing heavily and then one very surprising thing happened. Katniss spoke in her defence, sort of.

Or at least defence of her sports choices. It was so unprecedented, Clove simply sat there blinking as the other girl gave her views.

"I kinda think Clove's right. All those sports she mentioned do make for far more interesting viewing. Watching guys kick a football around just isn't all that interesting," the other brunette announced.

"Well you've really started something now," Harwen announced with a laugh as he looked first at Katniss and then at her. "This should be a fun night."

The table was awash with furious discussion of the matter now and everyone seemed to be interacting with everyone else, even Tresh and little Rue were in on the discussion and Clove sat back, quiet once more as she tried to make sense of everything that was happening.

Cato leaned close, his cocky smirk plastered on his handsome face and the usual taunting nature she was used to was finally firmly back in place. "I think you've just successfully acclimatized Spitfire. Congratulations."

"Shut up," Clove huffed, shoving him firmly.

Of course he didn't actually move when she did it, but simply laughed deeper than ever. "Nope. Sorry, you're one of us now," he replied, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

"One of us, one of us," came a chant from the side and she turned to see who said it.

Marvel of course, and his eyes glittered with amusement. Well if this was how the night was going to go, she thought maybe she could handle it.

It wasn't like they were directly involving her in the conversation now, but they weren't outright excluding her either. It was just something in the middle and that was fine by her right now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I suck at updating... But I'm still writing! Trying to get back into it more regularly, just... Well you don't wanna hear my problems. Anywho, hadn't intended to write this chapter, but it felt like I was depriving everyone if I left out what happened during the outing, so I smooshed this in between the two chapters I'd written. 
> 
> So um here enjoy! And leave me a review? Please? It's disheartening not to receive any comments on how the story is going and what you guys think. Back soon with another chapter I hope!

Of course that didn't last long, she should have known better than to think she could scrape through this evening unharmed so to speak after the opening minutes of the meal.

The debate over contact and non contact sports and which was better, still raged on, but before she'd even had a chance to sit back comfortably and ignore everyone, someone spoke.

"So I had no idea you were into sports," came a soft, feminine voice from somewhere to her right.

Clove glanced up from the table, pondering this sudden interest in her and the things she did and didn't like and then shrugged heavily. "Again nobody asked and again I didn't feel the need to share," she shot back.

Katniss sighed, fixing her with a glare that honestly she would have been almost proud of. The girl had fire, she had to give her that. "Well let's say for arguments sake we HAD asked, would you have told us then?"

She felt about ten pairs of eyes fixate solely on her then and groaned. Oh god, why the hell couldn't they all just go back to talking about football or whatever?

She didn't wanna do this and let's face it, none of them ever really bothered to even try and talk to her before, so why now? Did her wearing a dress and bringing up her love for brutal, bloody sports really make such a huge difference? She kinda figured that maybe at least the last one did. Still…

She turned to Cato for support, looking at him and raising an eyebrow. He didn't help, he just smirked back at her and shook his head.

"Hey I'm with them. I wanna play twenty questions or whatever the hell we're doing here," he announced, leaning contently back against the soft leather of the booth.

"Oooh twenty questions Clove style?! I'm in!"

That one was Marvel of course and Clove had to literally fight the urge to slam her head down onto the table and not remove it from there for the entirety of the night. "You don't get twenty, you get ten," she snapped, daring anyone to question her with a glare.

Of course, she should have known better. There was someone who would question her and he did.

"That's not how the game works Spitfire. It's called twenty questions for a reason," Cato announced cheerfully.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "But we're playing ten questions, so tough luck."

"Nope! Twenty. Now then, where to start?" He tapped his finger thoughtfully on his chin and Clove thumped him on the shoulder, scowling up at him.

"I said ten blondie and that's all you get," she growled, fixing him with her harshest look.

Of course Cato being Cato didn't even flinch, he merely smirked back happily and waved a hand dismissively in the air. "Marvel said twenty, I like his idea better," he announced.

"Wow! You two fight like a married couple you know," came another highly amused masculine voice.

Clove turned to glare at Peeta and called out "We do not!" at the exact same time as Cato huffed out the same words.

"My point exactly!" the other blond announced with a grin.

Katniss sniggered and shook her head at them, her grey eyes glinting with determination and amusement. "He's right you know. It's like a friendship and a marriage in one only without the liking each part. Or is that all just a ruse to fool us?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure it's completely a ruse you know," came a snide voice from the corner.

Clove narrowed her eyes into vicious slits at Glimmer. What the fuck was wrong with this girl? Seriously, if she wanted Cato, she was welcome to him in that sense at least. But if he thought he could stop being friends with her while dating that blonde harpy he had another thing coming.

And if she thought she was going to give Cato up like some gift basket or some crap, well Glimmer would learn what Clove was really about.

"Glimmer, unless you're going to take part and stop spouting nonsensical bullshit, keep your nose out of things you don't understand," Cato snapped irritably in the other girls direction before turning back to Clove. "Now then twenty questions, who's first?"

Glimmer looked appropriately like she'd just been bitch slapped and Clove had to duck her head to hide the snicker that threatened to erupt from her mouth. God but Cato was fun sometimes. Still his comment was wrong, utterly and completely wrong because…

"I said ten questions Cato."

"Awww but come on! Ten barely gives us anything to work with. Give us twenty," Marvel groaned, pouting at her.

He looked like a kicked puppy. It was a look she could easily ignore, cute didn't work on her, but it was still annoying as hell.

The entire group crowed their assent and Clove actually DID slam her head onto the table now. Could this night get any worse? She'd thought it was bad at the beginning but then it had seemed to grow into ok for a few seconds. Now though…

"Ergh fine! But if I really don't want to answer something or you ask something way too personal then I'm passing and that's a question you've lost. Those are my rules for playing so take it or leave it," she declared seriously.

"Jeeze Spitfire, you're really mean sometimes you know that?" Cato grumbled with a chuckle.

"I'm mean all the time. Get to it before I say to hell with this and walk away. And believe me I will do that you know."

Cato rolled his eyes at her and then turned to the group thoughtfully. His blue eyes flashed as he seemed to consider things and then he pointed at Katniss lazily.

"Ok, you started this. You get first question," he announced calmly.

"You don't want it?" the girl asked, frown lines appearing on her forehead while she tried to understand why he didn't want to ask the first question.

Clove knew why though, it was obvious. I mean come on.

"Cato knows more about me than anyone else here. He has less need to ask questions than the rest of you," she muttered airily in response. He spent a good deal of his time with her after all.

The blond in question smirked back at her and she turned to Katniss with a huff. "Can we just get this over with now? I'm dangerously close to not allowing it."

"Jeeze, give us time to think of questions," the other brunette muttered with a scowl.

Clove waited impatiently, listening to the soft hisses and whispers around her as the group tried to toss ideas at Katniss to question about her.

The other girl shrugged, waving a hand and huffed. "Shut up! I'll ask my own questions," she snapped, turning to fix her glare on Clove.

Her lips twitched into a calculating grin and she leaned towards Clove. "Hair colour preference for boyfriends… Or girlfriends."

Clove was soooo not gonna answer that! It was none of their damn business! "Pass," she growled shaking her head.

"But that's the first question!" Marvel exclaimed furiously. "You can pass but come on first question that's like…"

"What the hell does that question have to do with getting to know me better?!" she interrupted angrily. She leaned back in her seat, folding her arms over her chest and glaring back at them.

"What colour hair has Dela got Spitfire?" Cato asked curiously.

She answered without thought. "Strawberry blonde. But what the hell Cato? That's not…" she began but the table erupted around her, all of them chattering around her.

"BLOND! I knew it!" announced a triumphant Katniss.

Clove scowled, shifting in her seat and huffed. "I said strawberry blond! And that's not an answer to your question. I was answering Cato!"

Ergh how stupid were these people anyway? That was so not what had happened!

"Sorry Spitfire, but I knew that was going to be your answer anyway. That's why I did that." Cato's grin was relentless and taunting as he looked at her. He shifted against her, nudging her with his elbow.

She groaned. "I hate you all. I hope you know that," she muttered. She thunked her head back to the table and tried to ignore them as they went back and forth about who was going to question her next.

Her gaze caught on a flash of blond hair, and she turned to fully view Glimmer. The older girl was watching her, scrutinising her carefully and completely ignoring the commotion around her.

Clove felt so damn uneasy with the way she was looking at her. She wanted to just slap her and walk the fuck away.

She turned her head, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling that made her skin itch and tuned back into the group as they finally seemed to settle on the next thing.

What the hell was Glimmer's problem anyway?! Honestly, she didn't think she'd ever understand the other girl and she sure as hell didn't want to.

"Ok my turn! Clove!" Marvel announced cheerfully, pulling her attention towards him. "Do you have a preference more towards guys or girls?"

Urgh again with the personal shit. It wasn't something Clove had a problem answering, she wasn't ashamed of who or what she was, but why did they have to keep asking questions like that?

She opened her mouth to say it was none of his damn business, but she caught the sudden stiffness in Cato's posture. She noticed the tense way he held himself beside her.

She glanced up at him and his face was impassive and expressionless for the most part, but something told her he was intensely curious as to her answer to that question. Why she didn't know, but maybe it was just because it was one of those things he didn't yet know about her.

"I don't know. I never really considered it, it's not really stronger one way or the other. I don't care what gender someone is, just who they are. Now anymore questions like that and I'm punching you all and walking out. Seriously," she snapped, glaring around the small circle of people crowded around her.

Cato seemed to deflate beside her, shifting and un-tensing now and she flicked her gaze over him. "What's up with you?" she questioned quietly in confusion.

"Nothing," he grumbled back with a roll of his shoulders. "I'm gonna go get a drink. Somebody keep me informed of her answer if I miss something," he announced poking her in the side. He pulled a grin onto his lips and nodded at her. "Mind letting me out?"

She got up, letting him out of the booth and watched as he walked over to the bar like area and completely ignored everyone for now. Something was up with Cato, but for the life of her she couldn't figure it out.

She slid back into the booth, taking over his seat and leeching the warmth he'd left behind. It was incredibly comfortable.

"My turn now. Hmmm…"

Clove turned to Peeta, head tilted to the side as her dark eyes flicked between him and Cato, trying to figure things with Cato out. That and she wanted to know what Peeta was going to ask now that she'd made it so clear she wasn't going to answer any more stupid questions about her love life or personal preferences in terms of partners.

She settled her gaze on Cato as she waited longer for Peeta to apparently come up with an idea for his question. The older blond swallowed a drink back in one, making her frown and then ordered another one. He was drinking, clearly. But why did he seem so… quiet and uncomfortable suddenly.

"Clove," Peeta called, pulling her attention back to him. "Favourite thing to do when you're not watching sports, training or beating the hell out of Cato."

Well shit, those were all her favourite things and Peeta knew it too. The playful grin on his face told her that. Bastard…

Crossing one leg over the other, she folded her arms over her chest and frowned. She opened her mouth to speak, having come up with a response that gave nothing they didn't already know away, when a warm body shifted into the booth beside her.

Cato slung his arm over the back of the booth behind her, grin once more firmly in place and placed his drink down on the table. He poked her in the side for emphasis. "And talking to, texting or video chatting with your girlfriend is NOT a viable option Spitfire," he informed her lazily.

"Asshole," she grumbled angrily.

He'd just stolen her reply damn it! It wasn't a great one sure, but then it wasn't meant to be, it was just supposed to be a response to get them off her back. "Ergh fine, since Captain Smartass stole my reply…" She paused to elbow him in the side, making him snort. "I like to read. Just about anything, even books on how to do things, but I just like to read."

"Booooring," Marvel complained loudly, causing one of the group, a short black haired boy to jump in his seat.

"Shhh, keep it down guys," Harwen scolded from the other side of the booth, giving them a stern look.

Clove nodded at Harwen and then turned to Marvel. She shrugged and smirked back at him.

"Nobody said I had to give INTERESTING answers and it was the truth. It's not something I do often though, but you all took away my other favourite options."

Cato opened his mouth to shoot out the next question she was sure but the waitress came over, eyeing them all cautiously, probably because of the large group of people seated here. This was going to take some doing she was sure.

Harwen raised his hands and shushed them all. "Ok we'll go clockwise around the group. PLEASE make sure the person before you has finished ordering before you speak. And none of the really expensive stuff or you're paying for it yourself!"

Clove snapped her mouth shut, waiting as the group began to rattle off their orders. There were too many things for her to pay attention to. Just listening to it made her head hurt, so she tuned out and turned to Cato instead.

He eyed her thoughtfully and shook his head. "I didn't have you down as a bookworm. You surprise me at every turn Spitfire."

"I'm not a bookworm I just… I like to read," she replied seriously.

She wasn't one of those geeky reading all the time girls. I mean surely that was obvious, she just liked to read once in a while no matter what she was reading. Well within reason anyway.

"Liking to read sounds like a bookworm thing to me," the blond replied seriously. His blue eyes were alight with teasing playfulness and she urged to punch him so damn hard right now.

"Well that's because you're an uncouth ass who doesn't understand that reading is actually good for your mind," she announced sweetly, smiling up at him with the sweetest, most twisted smile she could possibly muster.

"Jeeze, you're awesome sometimes but what a bitch," he shot back as the waitress turned to face them both. Apparently everyone else was done ordering. Well that was damn quick!

"Uh I'll have the double burger and fries and a side order of onion rings," she told the woman.

She had that uncomfortable feeling again. Like too many people were watching her. Hell like anyone was watching her actually. It was something she hated. Didn't people know it was fucking rude to stare?!

"It's rude to stare," she snapped at the table in general.

"I'll have the same, and two large glasses of cola for us as well," Cato told the waitress. Clove raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged lazily. "I'm thirsty and you're almost done with that one."

She could have easily commented how he had an almost full glass right in front of him, but she didn't bother. Cato was a law unto himself, if he didn't want to explain, somehow she was sure that nothing short of a knife resting against his throat would make him do so.

And unfortunately, she didn't have a knife on her and well, it didn't really seem a life threatening kind of situation. It wasn't really worth it when she already had enough to be dealing with. Especially when they were still apparently ready to play twenty questions. Damn them all.

"So you don't eat like half the girls I know then? All salads and 'omg I'm not eating that I'll get fat!' or other crap like that then?" he questioned seriously.

"Nope, and that totally counts as one of the questions by the way. You have 16 left to go."

She announced that mostly to the rest of the group before turning her attention more towards Cato since he'd been the one to question her eating habits. "I'm usually careful with what I eat, but if I fancy eating something, I'll eat it. Why waste my life worrying about a few nice meals every now and again?"

"Hmm well that's good. I can't stand those girls who only eat salads and shit," he replied, shooting a glance at a clearly affronted Glimmer.

Clove coughed into her hand to hide a giggle and looked up at her too. The blonde's face twisted into a parody of a smile, one that was more akin to a hungry shark than a human. She doubted it meant anything good for her. And she was right.

"So, Clove. With your girlfriend so far away and all, do you ever get lonely?" she asked way too sweetly.

"That's a damn stupid question. Seriously, you couldn't come up with anything better? I think everyone here knows the answer to that."

Of course, then the girl revealed her true question. "I was just checking, but… I have another one. If someone from this group was interested in you and you liked them even a little would you take the easy route because they are here or be faithful to your little girlfriend?"

"Glimmer!" Marvel exclaimed angrily. "You can't say shit like that to people! Didn't anybody teach you about manners?!"

Clove scowled. Glimmer seemed to be taking a little too much interest of her lately. What the hell was up with that? And why the incredibly personal question? Like hell was she fucking answering that one. She smirked and decided to play a little game with her too.

"Glimmer… You seem awful interested in me and my love life lately. Are you trying to say you wanna go out with me? Because sorry, but I'm just not in the least bit interested in you."

The other girl seemed to actually flush with colour at that. Though, Clove honestly wasn't sure if it was more from embarrassment or anger. Knowing the flirty, bitchy blond it was likely anger more than anything else though.

"Hell no. Even if I was interested in girls, you and I would never work sweetie," she replied picking airily at one nail.

Cato snorted heavily beside Clove and leaned in closer to move around her. She didn't bother stopping him. "So why are you asking more personal questions than we are then?"

"Oh you know, just figured that someone at this table might appreciate the answers. They seem too scared to do anything about it themselves."

Clove wasn't the only one who was confused this time. Almost everyone at the table suddenly wore a blank look or one of intense confusion. Nobody seemed to have an idea any more than Clove did.

She turned to Cato who was once more bolt upright with tension and glaring at Glimmer like he wanted to slap her. Though she didn't understand why, she was fairly sure he would do it too.

Well he would if she weren't a girl anyway.

She was about to reply, when the most surprising person butted into their little conversation without a care in the world, seemingly.

"Glimmer. You be talking crazy again. You wanna watch that, people be locking you up soon you know," Thresh stated.

Little Rue covered her hand with her mouth, letting out a sweet, loud giggle and Clove blinked. What the fuck was going on here?! Had she fallen over and knocked her head when she entered or something and slid straight into stupid land? Was that why everything was so surreal?

If she didn't know better, she'd think that was the case. Sadly, or gladly, she wasn't sure which, it wasn't what was going on. What was however, was a mystery to her.

The older girl rolled her eyes, glaring at him and then turning back to Clove with that knowing look in her eyes that annoyed the fuck out of Clove because she just couldn't quite grasp what she was supposed to be missing.

"Oh, just because the rest of you are too blind to see what I see, doesn't make me insane. And you and I would never work dear Clove, we're too much alike. Perhaps you should look to someone closer at hand in the group," she stated mysteriously before flicking her hair over her shoulder and turning away once more.

"Don't flatter yourself princess. I'd rather die than be interested in you," Clove shot back, earning her a glare from the corner of the blonde's eye.

"Riiiiight, well anywho… Let's move on shall we? So uh, now that we're all confused as hell, who's turn was it again?" Marvel glanced around at them all, apparently trying to decide who'd go next.

"Can't we just call it quits? This is getting on my last damn nerve and you're all asking stupid questions and shit," Clove responded, leaning back against the booth seat.

Cato's arm rested right behind her and she could feel the warmth of it pressed against her bare neck. She turned to him and he grinned playfully.

"Aww come on Spitfire, things were just getting fun," he growled playfully.

"Well does anybody actually HAVE a question to ask?"

She glanced around the group and they all seemed to be lost as to what to ask now. She thanked her lucky stars and hoped to hell this crap was now over with seeing as nobody knew what to do anymore.

Again, she was sadly wrong. And she hated it so much.

"Well you know, seeing as the food will start to be here kinda soon, how about we do a quick fire round? Just ask anything that comes to mind and Clove… You're not allowed to think too long about it, cos I'm fairly sure you'll think up a reply that isn't what we wanna hear. Just reply straight away," Katniss reasoned seriously.

Clove hated her. In that moment, she really kinda fucking hated the other brunette girl. She didn't bother censoring herself over that fact either.

"I hate you," she huffed.

"That's ok, you don't have to like me to answer questions. Ok everyone, go!"

Clove wished, not for the first time tonight that she hadn't bothered to turn up. Was it too late to walk away? She glanced to the side, about to get up when Cato's hand clamped down tight on her shoulder. She'd kinda forgotten for a quick second that he was there blocking her in. Shit!

"Not going anywhere are you Spitfire?" Cato whispered, leaning in close and smirking at her.

"No…" she grumbled, turning back to the table. "Fine, get on with it then, but again if I don't want to answer I'm not going to."

"Favourite colour?" Someone shot out quickly.

"Really Peeta? Wow that's beyond lame but whatever, dark red."

"Favourite band?!" Marvel that time.

She shrugged. "Uh I guess… right now Coldplay."

Her moods shifted a lot and her musical tastes with them so she didn't always have a favourite as such. But it would suffice she supposed.

"Favourite animal?"

Clove raised an eyebrow at Katniss and shrugged. "I don't much like animals. Snakes I guess."

"Figures." The other brunette replied with a chuckle.

"Random, TRUE fact about yourself?" came a gruff voice from beside her.

"Ergh I hate you. Uh… When I was 8 I had an argument with my parents at the dinner table. I didn't want to do my homework and I was in a bad mood so I picked up my knife and uh… threw it at the wall in frustration. That's how I learned to love throwing knives."

Cato seemed surprised by that, as did everyone else, but a slow lazy smirk spread over his face. "Nice one. I wondered where that started, good to know." His blue eyes flashed amusement and she smirked back.

"Jeeze, remind me never to piss you off," Marvel muttered, shrinking away with a look of mock horror on his face as he crossed his hands in front of him to ward her off.

"I thought that one was common knowledge already. Learned a little slow did we?" she shot back.

The table erupted into laughter and she sat back smugly when he scowled at her. The look of hurt was fake, but she saw the hint of irritation that shone in his green-grey eyes. Clearly he didn't like to be called slow.

Hmm, so he WASN'T as much of a pathetic push over as she'd thought. Well that made him almost bearable. Almost, but not quite.

"Favourite person in this town?" Glimmer pushed in, glancing curiously at her.

Seriously?! She joined in and that was her first rapid fire question? God she was stupid, obviously.

"Ok, easiest and most stupid question of all time, but whatever. Cato," she replied simply.

The smug look that took over his face was so bright she just blinked at him dumbly for a second. Honestly, they all knew she didn't like anyone here apart from him, so what the hell was Glimmer doing? Stupid cow was as brainless as Clove had pegged her for when she first arrived.

"Jeeze come on Glimmer! Even Rue knows the answer to that one!" Peeta called out, waving at the once more giggling little girl. "Hell I think Fox knows that too and she's never even spoken to Clove or gone near her."

A tall red headed girl with tight, sly features glanced up at the sound of her nickname and shrugged. "Well of course everyone knows that. He's the only one she lets within fifty feet of her," she replied seriously nodding at them all.

Oddly enough, this didn't seem to stop Glimmer, it made her look even more supremely smug than before. What the hell?!

Her attitude seemed to prompt a discussion with everyone throwing questions at Glimmer now about why she was acting so weird, and thankfully the 20 questions debacle seemed to be over for now.

"Saved by the bell, or well bitch I guess huh Spitfire?" Cato teased playfully, nudging her with his shoulder.

She rolled her eyes and glanced up at him with a nod. "Yeah looks like it. Lucky me, now everyone can pay attention to someone else," she grumbled.

He laughed, nudging her with his shoulder and then settled back against the booth seat, sipping his drink with apparent relish.

She was sure she knew why that was now. He kept sneaking away to the bar, he had to have alcohol in there, even though Harwen had apparently said no one was allowed it tonight, even if they were of age.

Not that she cared at all though. It wasn't her business, he wasn't doing anything stupid at least right now and he was of age, so it didn't matter to her in the slightest.

"You really don't like being the centre of attention do you?" he asked. His voice was low and casual sounding, but the look on his face was completely serious. He was trying to understand she supposed.

Cato didn't exactly like talking to people obviously, but he didn't seem to share the same feeling of intense irritation from being the centre of attention that she did. So he probably didn't quite get it, but he was trying to.

"No, not really. It annoys me unless it's because of my skill throwing knives or maybe hurting someone," she replied and shrugged.

"And that's why I like you Spitfire," Cato announced before lapsing into silence.

It was comfortable like this. She relaxed into the seat and listened to the sound of all the mingling conversations going on around them.

She didn't know how long she managed to escape the limelight as tonight's star attraction, but sometime later the food started arriving and Clove blinked, shocked. Had they really been here that long?

"Uh wow that was…"

"Fairly quick? Yeah, that's why we come here. Good food and they take the meaning of fast food to a whole new level," Harwen interrupted with a chuckle.

Clove frowned, poking at the burger that was placed before her with a delicate finger. "Are you sure it's safe?" she questioned him with a raised eyebrow.

"Completely safe. Come on, tuck in. The food's really good I promise," he replied with a nod.

She turned to Cato for confirmation and he chuckled, grinning lopsidedly at her and snatched a chip off her plate. He held it out before her and waved it playfully. "Go ahead, eat. It's safe honest."

She grabbed his hand and pushed it towards his face till the chip was pressed to his own lips and smirked. "You first, just to be sure it's not poisoned or something," she teased.

He practically inhaled the chip and groaned in appreciation. "Yeah it's good, it's…" He suddenly burst into a series of loud, vicious choking coughs and clutched his throat. "I'm dying!" he gasped dramatically.

He had definitely been drinking.

Clove rolled her eyes at him, and grabbed a chip for herself. "Dork," she muttered as she popped it into her mouth and chewed. Damn that was good!

He didn't reply, simply laughed and reached for his own plate as it was placed before him. The sounds of laughter and cutlery hitting the plates filled the air and Clove sank into it gratefully, reminding herself that this night wasn't bad at all. It was rather fun despite the twenty questions thing.

She was determined to enjoy this rare night out and so far, despite everything bad about it, she actually kinda was.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes I know I suck for update times and stuff, BUT I bring you a christmas present? I think they're really kinda cute in a totally grumpy Cato/Clove like way here so hopefully you guys will like this and I hope to get back into writing soon. Just need a new computer to do it on since mine is bust... *sad face* Anywho Happy Christmas guys, and Happy Holidays to all! Blessed be and I hope I'll be back with more Clato soon! Drop me a review or kudos as my christmas pressie? Please? If you like it that is. R n R is love people! XD

Clove glanced at her phone and gave a soft sigh. Not because she was bored, this had turned out to actually be a pretty good night, just it seemed to go on for a really long time and she was honestly, kinda tired right now.

Thresh had left a long time ago to get Rue home, some of the other’s had moved on to… Well Clove had no idea where to be honest, it wasn’t like she was privy to that info, nor like she cared at all. But there were only a few of them left now. And her father it seemed… had fallen asleep.

She picked it up, pressing the speed dial number yet again and holding the phone to her ear. The noise from the people still laughing and drinking washed over her, making her frown as she glanced up.

Cato raised an eyebrow at her as she turned to face him and nodded his head towards her phone. Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes and pressed to end the call. There was absolutely no point in leaving a message, he’d called her earlier but well the evening hadn’t been done and apparently waiting up was just too much for him.

“Must have fallen asleep after all. Apparently waiting up for the precious daughter he refused to let walk here in the first place was too much,” she muttered with a shrug. Oh she knew he’d been working really hard, he deserved a break but if he’d just let her walk here or have Cato walk her, she wouldn’t have had to even phone him in the first place.

The blond looked half drunk and in truth, she was pretty sure he was. Harwen had forbid it, even for the ones who were old enough, but she knew full well Cato had chosen not to listen. He blinked at her, cocking his head to the side and then grinned. Not his twisted smug smirk that she was so used to, but simply grinned lazily and slapped a hand down on the table.

“Well, looks like I’ll have to walk you home after all. Come on then you look half done in.”

She had to snort at him then. Seriously? He was saying that to her? Wow well now if that wasn’t the pot calling the kettle black. “You’re drunk Cato. Think you’re the one half done in, but I CAN walk myself you know. I have legs and a right hook.”

The blond absently rubbed his chin, giving her a dark look for a second and she couldn’t help that the corners of her lips twitched upwards when he did so.

“I remember that. Doesn’t mean I’m just gonna let you wander off like that, so deal with it. And for your information, I’m not drunk. Just half way there.” His face was indignant and his eyes narrowed at her, but there was the faintest ghost of a smile upon his lips still too.

“Sure and I’m a fairy princess. Look how sweet I am,” she shot back.

“Smartass little bitch is what you are.”

He leaned close when he said that and Clove could feel the warmth of his breath on her skin, smell the alcohol upon it. Normally, even though she revelled in it, she might be pissed off at someone who said that. But coming from him right now, with the way his shoulder bumped hers, almost knocking her out of her seat, it was simply amusing.

“Drunk assed bastard is what YOU are.”

“Well then we’re both asses of some kind. Don’t care, I’m walking you home so get over it.”

Did she have a choice? Of course she did, but would he listen to that choice? No. And it wasn’t like she had a problem with it, not really. “Ergh you’re impossible and definitely an ass. Fine come on then.”

Rising out of her seat, Clove stood up, brushing her dress down and watched as Cato followed her. Even for someone who was, at the very least, mildly tipsy he stood up poker straight and not looking in any way worse for wear. It was rather impressive actually given that she’d been able to tell he was partly drunk when he was sat down. Now he almost appeared just fine.

“Just give me a sec. Be right back,” he told her.

He turned and headed away, towards the bathroom she was sure. And she turned back to the table for a brief second before moving to turn away. Everyone else was busy, so it wasn’t like they’d miss her or anything. But just as she was about to step away, Harwen’s voice came from behind her and she glanced over her shoulder at him.

“Leaving? Your dad coming to pick you up then?” he asked in that calm, careful voice of his. Always trying to be sure ‘his’ kids were safe, even when playing with deadly weapons.

“Uh no. He kinda crashed out I think.” Shrugging, she waved her hand back in the direction Cato had gone and frowned. “Cato refuses to let me walk alone, so he said he’d walk me.”

The frown on Harwen’s face was confusing. She didn’t get it. He wouldn’t let her walk alone and he certainly wouldn’t like it and Cato was about the best protection she could have. Not that she wanted it and she’d like to think she didn’t even need it, but still, wasn’t that a GOOD thing? What the hell was the problem?

“I see, well I can give you a lift if you’d prefer. Thinking of heading home myself,” he told her rising up from the booth.

Before she could voice a simple comment that it was fine, her and Cato would be ok, a tight, confident voice sounded from right over her shoulder. Cato, of course. He seemed to have an innate ability to come in at the most opportune and inopportune moments.

“It’s fine. I’ll walk her, we got this.”

His hand on her bare shoulder was heavy and rough, bearing down on her like an oddly soft weight and she frowned up at them both. It was weird, like one of those testosterone filled fights she’d seen between a guy and some other guy over who got to the date the girl. Or well she supposed a more appropriate thought was an angry father not content with his daughters choice of boyfriend.

Still, neither actually fit, because Cato was just… well Cato damn it! He was a friend, still basically her only one here and that was that.

“I’m not sure it’s… appropriate,” Harwen replied, giving Cato a look that made him tense up behind her, his hand clamping down on her shoulder.

“Ok seriously, what the he…” she began but Cato’s fierce words cut her off mid word.

“What the fuck are you talking about? It’s bloody inappropriate to walk a girl home?”

She could sense his anger, practically feel it vibrating through him as he was so close to her, but the uncertainty and worry from Harwen was almost as palpable. What exactly did he imagine was going to happen? Jeeze, he needed to get a damn grip! She opened her mouth to tell him so, but yet again it seemed they were either ignoring her or trying to stop her from talking. Either way, it pissed her the hell off.

Harwen grabbed Cato by the arm, tugging him aside and hissed a response at him, seeming every inch the protective parent again. “She’s fifteen Cato. Just be careful is all I’m saying and don’t do anything stupid.”

Clove couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Seriously?! Ok enough was enough that was so totally not happening and she'd thought Harwen knew them both better than that. Jeeze. “Hey! I am here you know! Get a grip the pair of you. It’s not like that!”

Cato glanced over to her, seemingly torn between amusement and frustration at her interruption and then turned back to Harwen, a hard expression on his face that spoke volumes about the intense frustration he was currently feeling towards the other male.

“I fucking KNOW she’s fifteen alright? It’s. NOT. Like. That,” he hissed, putting emphasis onto the words by stating them slowly and clearly as if talking to a belligerent child or something.

Harwen on the other hand, seemed to be watching Cato as if he felt sorry for him or something. He shook his head, leaving Clove frowning deeply as he once again appeared to ignore her in favour of straightening Cato out. But there really wasn’t anything to straighten out for crying out loud!

“Cato. I saw th…”

“You didn’t see SHIT. Because there was nothing TO see!  She’s a friend and I just wanna make sure she’s safe. Whatever twisted ideas are in your head, are just that! In your head.”

Harwen seemed to deflate and Clove sighed as she glanced between the two of them. She had had just about enough of this crap, thank you very much. This ended right here and right now. “Ok, enough with the pissing contest. Like Cato said, it’s just… Not like that. He’s a really good friend and I thought you’d be happy that he’s making sure I’m safe so you can stay and make sure the rest of them are safe.”

Her lips pursed as she drew in breath and a deep rumble of laughter erupted from the tall male beside her. She hadn’t meant to spit the words out that way, but damn things were just turning out to be all kinds of crap and she just wanted to go home now!

“Crude Clove. Nice,” Cato chuckled while Harwen stared at her like he was a biologist and she was some kind of specimen he’d never seen before and didn’t quite understand.

“That was… rather disgusting and I’d really rather you didn’t use such language around me if you don’t mind. The both of you that is.”  Harwen’s stern glare fixed on first her and then Cato and Clove just knew he was referring to all of Cato’s spit out obscenities from before.  

“And I’d rather you didn’t accuse me of whatever you’re currently thinking when all I’m trying to do is make sure she gets home safe, same as you.”

“It just seemed that… Alright, I’m sorry but just, be careful.”

He looked dejected and confused and his gaze flicked between her and Cato as if trying to make sense of them both now. Like they were both under a microscope and he still had no clue what to make of them. Maybe it was just how they both seemed to argue for it that got him confused, but Cato wasn’t interested in her like at all and she wasn’t interested in him. It was just a normal friend thing.

“We will,” Cato replied moving to grasp her arm and tug her away. “Come on Spitfire, let’s go.”

She chanced one last look at Harwen, who seemed to be eyeing them even more oddly and then huffed as she turned to follow Cato out. Whatever he was seeing, was definitely something that wasn’t there, for either of them. And they both knew it.

“What the hell was that all about?” she asked with a raised eyebrow as she folded her arms across her chest.

Cato’s huge shoulders lifted in a heavy shrug before sinking back down as he glanced at her out of the corner of a narrowed blue eye. “Hell if I know. I’d say he’s going senile, but even I know he’s not old enough for that yet. Maybe he just thinks I might try to corrupt his little pet even if she does have a girlfriend. Fuck knows.”

So, still pissed off then, but well what else could it be? That sure seemed to be what Harwen was thinking would happen. “I’d like to see you try.”

That taunting smirk was on his face again and he turned fully to view her as they walked, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Thanks, but I think I’ll stay right where I am. I happen to like my anatomy just as it is. Not worth the risk allowing psycho’s near this perfection you know.”

Rolling her eyes, Clove snorted and shook her head. “Modest AND eager to be beat up by a girl again huh?” She laughed as he huffed sharply about to reply when her phone beeped in her purse. “And speaking of girls…”

Fishing the phone out, she barely paid attention as Cato’s face twisted away and pressed the accept button, holding the phone up to her ear. Dela seemed to have timing just like Cato. It was either the worst or the best timing, though in a way it was somehow almost a little of both.

“Hey! You never texted me! I was getting worried over here girl!” came Del’s voice down the line.

Clove grinned and shook her head. “I was fine Del sorry. There wasn’t really much chance to say anything. We got kinda caught up.”

Cato sort of pushed in then, smirking at her and grasping her hand with the phone so he could pull it towards him and speak. “Your girl shocked the hell outta most of us when she arrived and then started a huge argument about what made good sports and caused a few disruptions all night!”

He sorta yelled a little, tugging at her hand as she struggled to claw the phone back from him. Clove rolled her eyes at his description and scowled while teasing laughter filtered down the line. “I did not! Shut the hell up you drunken shit.”

Normally, she was pretty sure Cato would have got mad as hell at that, but instead he just laughed harder, a mischievous glint in his eyes and tugged almost playfully at her hand this time. Dela’s voice rang clear when she replied and Clove groaned, wondering if she should just give up right now. These two were clearly trouble when put together.

“That’s my girl! Gotta make an entrance and gotta stir up trouble. She wouldn’t be my Clover otherwise. Is this the famous Cato I keep hearing about then?”

She could feel her cheeks heat up just a little and growled as she glanced up at Cato. Something about Del’s words seemed to sober him, and he became almost unreadable to her, though there was still that dark smirk upon his handsome face.

“Yep, fraid so. Pretty sure everything she’s told you is true. Unless she said I was a nice guy, then she was definitely lying,” he shot back, laughing loudly.

“Trust me I definitely never said that,” she huffed, nudging him with her elbow.

“Wow Spitfire, way to hurt a guy.” There was something about his voice that made her wonder if he actually WAS hurt, but then it was gone so fast and he was listening to Del’s words with a seriousness she hadn’t seen before tonight.

“Spitfire? Interesting name Clover. Hope he’s remembering you’re still my girl.”

Clove felt a thrill sizzle through her at hearing that. The distance between them and the way things had been lately made it feel so different, it was hard to get used to. But when Del said something like that, it set her at ease again. She found it really hard sometimes, but just a few simple silly words like that made it so much easier to deal with.

“Jeeze, what’s with people thinking I’m trying to steal you away tonight? Yes, I remember she has a girlfriend and no I’m not trying to take her away from you!”

Before Clove could reply, he stomped on ahead a little and she sighed. Great, now she had to go sort that out too. Of course she got it, but she knew that Dela was only kidding so why was Cato so angry about it? That wasn’t what was happening between them. And they both knew it, so there was nothing to get pissed about. Right?

“Woah, what’s up with him?” Dela asked sounding as confused and shocked as Clove felt, but also wary and a little tightly wound up. “And what the hell is this about other people thinking there’s something with you two?”

“It’s nothing Del, I swear. Just our instructor got his wires crossed. I dunno it’s not like we’re together all the time or anything. He’s just the only friend I have. I need him, but Harwen didn’t seem to get it at first.”

“Doesn’t sound like nothing.”

Clove had to quite literally bite back the groan that threatened to spill out. But she could understand she supposed. It wasn’t like people usually said something like that unless there was a reason, but they really were just friends. Yeah sure they were getting closer now, but that didn’t have to mean it was anything other than friendship. Because it really bloody well wasn’t!

“Seriously Del, you know it’s not like that. He’s just had a few drinks and it’s not like we’re together all the time or anything. It’s only during training. I don’t see him any other time. He’s just a really good friend.”

It was Del’s turn to sigh this time, but Clove was sure she was nodding down the phone even though she couldn’t see it. That was just a Del thing to do. “Yeah I know. Just jealous that he gets to be with you and I don’t. I’m gonna come see you soon ok? I promise. So you’ll have to introduce me to this guy who’s taking such good care of my girl, cos I wanna meet him.”

Clove grinned at the thought of that and gripped the phone a little tighter. “Yeah? Well you better come down here soon. Just not the same without you. Listen Del, I… love you but I gotta go. I promise I’ll Skype you tomorrow and tell you EVERY detail of what happened but…”

She’d barely finished saying but, when Del interrupted her with an amused chuckle. “But you gotta chase the big guy cause he’s walking you home and it’s dark and you might be a little lost without him?”

“I’m not bloody lost,” Clove growled, though in truth, maybe she would be seeing as it was damn dark and she’d been so intent on talking she was no longer sure exactly where she was right now.

“Ok Clover. But call me tomorrow ok? I wanna hear EVERYTHING and I mean everything. I love you! See you tomorrow!”

“Yeah, tomorrow. I promise.” Pressing the call end button, Clove sighed and marched forward at a faster pace so she didn’t lose sight of Cato’s slowly retreating form. “Hey what’s up?”

She could feel frown lines forming on her brow while she tugged at Cato’s jacket. He shrugged much as he had done before, but in a more offhand way than earlier and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Nothing. Just thought you might want some time to talk to your girl without her getting jealous or whatever.”

He sounded so irritated and short tempered. Not that that was unusual, but she still didn’t want him to be annoyed over this. She’d had enough of people getting the wrong idea tonight. “Cato come on. She’s just joking around and yeah that was, you know, really great of you but not necessary and… Where the hell are we anyway?”

Cato laughed then, sounding more like the teasing sod he’d been for most of the night and she sighed while he pointed to a dark building up ahead. “You don’t recognise your own street? Jeeze Spitfire, unobservant much?”

Wow, they’d walked all the way back and she hadn’t even noticed? She supposed that was due to being on the phone with Del. “I was distracted.”

“Oh, I noticed.” Cato seemed to shrug off the weirdness from before and turned to move away from her house now that his duty was fulfilled.

“You don’t have to go you know,” Clove found herself saying before she’d even thought about her words. But as soon as she’d said it she realised she meant it. Life around here really was kinda boring when he wasn’t around and sure it was late, but she wasn’t quite ready to turn in yet. It wasn’t like Del was around right now and she was still wired from the night out.

“Oh really?” He raised an eyebrow at her and she shook her head with a laugh.

“Not like that, just… Ergh, come on. “ She reached out grabbing his arm and tugging him back towards the house.

He seemed to let her, still grinning and simply followed her into the house. “I know that’s not what you meant. You’re so damn easy to wind up.”

She had to give him that one, she did keep acting that way when he made an innocent yet teasing comment that could be taken the wrong way if she so wished. And it seemed she DID keep on taking things the wrong way without thinking.

“You’re so damn annoying,” she hissed softly, trying not to disturb her obviously sleeping parents seeing as the house was cloaked in darkness right now.

Cato grunted, still smirking at her and let himself be guided up the thankfully silent stairs. He raised an eyebrow at her, but made no comment and for that she was glad. Because it just seemed… Well with no one else to talk to right now, he was her best friend and it didn’t feel odd or uncomfortable for him to be here with her. Until he spoke anyway.

“The bedroom Spitfire? Really? Isn’t that just fuel for the fire right now?”

Collapsing onto her bed, she undid the straps of her shoes and peeled them off her feet with a soft sigh. “Only if something happened or someone finds out and they won’t,” she stated resolutely while she watched him collapse back onto her bed.

“No they definitely won’t. Because there’s nothing to tell,” he replied. There was a hard edge to his voice that she couldn’t place as he closed his eyes and stretched himself out lengthways across her bed, legs planted firmly on the floor.

Snatching a worn khaki tank top and dark green pyjama shorts from her drawer, she pointed her hand at him, waving the clothing towards him. “I’ll be right back.”

“Sure sure, take your time or whatever,” he replied airily, waving a hand in her general direction.

Shaking her head, she ducked into the bathroom and quickly tugged the sparkly silver material of her dress down. Pulling the shorts and tank top on over her bra and panties, she glanced down at herself. Ideally, to be more comfortable she’d remove her bra, but that just seemed wildly inappropriate, so she kept it on and returned to her bedroom, dress hanging over her arm.

He was right where she’d left him, arm slung over his face while he flopped back on her bed, looking like he thought he belonged there. She snorted at that and moved towards the wardrobe, thinking he probably thought he did, knowing him.

“So apart from the drama with Harwen, did you have a good night tonight?” She hung the dress up and turned as he lifted his arm and glanced to the side at her.

“It had its moments, that’s for sure.” He sounded snappy and irritable again, but there was a definite grin on his face when she moved towards the bed.

Sinking down beside him, she watched the confusion and thought flashing across his handsome features and folded her arms over her chest, feeling a little defensive all of a sudden. He was studying her like he had when she’d first walked into the room earlier.

He waved a hand towards her face this time, shifting up to rest on his side, one elbow pressing into the mattress. “Still can’t believe I never knew that about you… That you like all that girly stuff I mean.”

She grinned back and shook her head, realising she was still wearing her make up. Grabbing the facial wipes from the side, she looked down at him from where she was sat up above him and began to wipe the stuff off her face. “Only sometimes. It’s nice to feel like a girl occasionally. Which, in case you’ve forgotten, is what I am.”

“Trust me, I never forgot that. You’re too dainty looking for me to ever think otherwise. Even if you are kinda freakishly strong,” he shot back, watching her ever more carefully as more and more make up stained the wipe.

Her dark eyes locked with his when she finally removed the last of it and she smirked while he nodded approvingly. “There. Better now? Does it really look that bad?”

He rolled his eyes, grabbing her wrist and tugging her down to lay beside him, sideways on the bed as he was. “Don’t be stupid. I wasn’t lying earlier when I said you looked good tonight. You did. Just… You look more like Clove this way, the Clove I know is all.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully, still on his side and looked closer at her. “And you’re still just as cute as ever,” he added afterwards.

She laughed, shoving at his hard chest and shifting to lie on her back. “Well thanks I guess. But I’m not cute I’m…” She racked her brain for an appropriate word and failed. She knew he was just taunting her with that word, trying to get a rise out of her as apposed to really meaning it, but still. “I’m Clove and I’m freaking awesome ok?”

He laughed deeply, moving to sit up as he took in the way she was so clearly dressed for bed. Clove knew what he was getting ready to do and she didn’t feel like letting him go just yet. “Nah, you’re Spitfire to me. Small, angry and seriously kickass, but I should go. Let you sleep and stuff.”

She reached out, quickly curling her hand around his wrist and tugged him back down with a sigh. “Nope! Stay and just… Stay, for a little longer? I never have anyone around anymore and it… sucks. Just for a bit?”

She hadn’t meant to ask, to sound almost pleading but god she didn’t want him to go yet. Thankfully he complied, laying back down and staring at the ceiling with a confused look on his face. “Fine, but only because I have nothing better to do,” he quipped.

She laughed again and closed her eyes, just enjoying the comfortable silence as they lay back together. Maybe to other people, this, their closeness was a little weird, to her it was simply home. The only time she got to relax and feel like there was someone there for her, WITH her anymore.

It was nice to just do nothing but with someone actually there every now and again. She needed this and more importantly, she needed him. And somehow, she kinda had the feeling he needed a friend too. Maybe…


End file.
